Recently, Jamie Diamond of Citibank made headlines by labeling Bitcoin a fraud. Whether those comments played any part in Bitcoin’s recent sell off is hard to say, but the true believers reacted with predictable outrage given that the comments came from the ultimate Wall Street insider whose financial supremacy is supposedly threatened by crypto currencies like Bitcoin.
Although my critical comments on Bitcoin over the years have not received nearly as much attention, they have been just as summarily dismissed by the crypto currency crowd. But I am a well know libertarian and follower of the Austrian School of economics. I am not a member of the banking establishment, nor am I a fan of fiat money. I should be one of the good guys. But since I happen to own a company that sells gold, a metal that supposedly Bitcoin will soon make obsolete, the crypto crowd looks at me like a stubborn old buggy whip salesmen who refuses to acknowledge that the future resides in horseless transportation.
Well Bitcoin is not the automobile and gold is not a buggy whip. While Diamond’s comments were not 100% on the money, he is right about Bitcoin’s ultimate demise, just wrong about how it will meet its fate and why. While most fear that government will simply look to make Bitcoin illegal (which could be a possibility if Bitcoin could actually deliver on its promises), it is much more likely to die of natural causes.
Conventional wisdom holds that gold is a good store of value, and provides a hedge of protection against inflation and economic upheaval. But a close look at the data reveals gold offers a long-term growth trajectory comparable to other financial asset classes.
Gold sales at Australia’s Perth Mint doubled in September. Meanwhile, sales of silver surged 78%.
Sales of gold coins and minted bars jumped to 46,415 ounces in September, up from 23,130 ounces a month ago. Silver sales during the month came in at 697,849 ounces, compared with 392,091 ounces in August.
The SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap podcast combines a succinct summary of the week’s precious metals news coupled with thoughtful analysis. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.
A few Fridays back, I shared some of the innovative ways people have come up with to smuggle gold. Like I said in that article, gold smuggling is a very lucrative business. People want gold, and they’ll go to great lengths to have it. But smuggling isn’t as easy as you might think, and people have put gold in some places … Well, let’s just say it couldn’t have been a comfortable experience.
OK – I’ll just come out and say it. More than a few smugglers have resorted to sticking gold up their butts.
Earlier this month, we reported a move by China that could foreshadow the end of the US dollar as the world reserve currency. The Chinese announced the launch of a gold-backed, yuan-denominated oil futures contract. The move potentially creates a way for oil exporters to circumvent US dollar denominated benchmarks by trading in yuan. The contracts will be priced in yuan, but convertible to gold.
More broadly speaking, Russia and China seem to be setting the stage to set up an alternative the international US dollar system. Many analysts believe the two countries are buying gold specifically to minimize their dependence on the US dollar. Russia and China are also reportedly moving closer to developing a broader gold-based trading system.
In an article originally published on the Mises Wire, Ronald-Peter Stöferle digs deeper into the possibility of “de-dollarization.”
The world is looking for alternatives to the dollar — and finds them more and more often.”
During an interview at the Denver Gold Forum, the chairman of the World Gold Council said he thinks the world may have reached peak gold.
Peak gold means the amount of gold mined out of the earth will begin to shrink every year, rather than increase, as it has done pretty consistently since the 1970s.
Randall Oliphant said there are signs we’ve reached that point. He said in the near-term, production is likely to plateau at best, before slowly declining as demand rises, especially given global political risks and robust purchases by consumers in India and China
We’re not going to fall off a cliff in the near term, but in the same time it’s really hard to see how we’re going to produce enough gold to meet all this demand.”
Last December, Dennis Gartman called gold the top commodity to own in 2017. He followed up in March, swearing he wasn’t a “gold bug,” but then advising “buy gold.” Now the man known as the “commodities king” says keep buying gold.
In an interview on CNBC’s Futures Now, Gartman declared the bull run isn’t over and predicted the yellow metal will hit $1,400 in the near future.
A year from now gold will be demonstrably higher than where it is now.”
The founder of the world’s biggest hedge fund says every investor should own some gold.
Business Insider CEO Henry Blodget recently interviewed Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates.
You recommend that most portfolios should contain some gold.”
Dalio’s didn’t even hesitate.
Yeah. Of course.”
Apple recently announced its new iPhone 10 to much hoopla. It will feature a retina display, increased storage and RAM, and enhanced facial recognition (which is either real cool or incredibly creepy, depending on your point of view.)
Of course, this will all come with a pretty hefty price tag of around $1,000. A lot of people were taken aback by the cost of the new Apple gadget. On the other hand, there are apparently at least a few people out there who think that isn’t nearly enough. I mean, who wants a plain old, boring $1,000 iPhone 10 when, for a mere $69,995, you can walk around with the solid gold Lux iPhone X Ingot pressed against your ear?
