Peter’s Blog

President Joe Biden has announced the first round of economic sanctions on Russia as tensions in Ukraine continue to mount. The sanctions came in response to an announcement by Russian President Vladimir Putin recognizing two breakaway republics in Ukraine and his decision to send troops into those regions. Sanctions are meant to punish Russia, but […]

Russians have gone on a gold-buying spree. According to Russian media reports, investors in the country have bought a record amount of gold since 2014 despite prohibitively high taxes.

While the Federal Reserve continues to downplay inflation in the US, insisting that it is “transitory,” the Bank of Russia has gone to war with rising prices. Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina says she sees “persistent factors” to inflation, and on Friday, the Russian Central bank hiked interest rates by 100 basis points to […]

Last week, Russia announced plans to completely eliminate dollars and dollar-denominated assets from its sovereign wealth fund. Is this another sign of erosion of dollar dominance? The news from Russia dovetails with a warning by billionaire fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller that the dollar could cease to be the world’s reserve currency within the next 15 […]

Last week, we reported that the Russian National Wealth fund was dumping dollars and turning toward gold. The Russians have engaged in an intentional de-dollarization policy for several years. But it appears this could be part of a broader global move away from the greenback. The dollar’s share of global currency reserves dropped significantly in […]

The Russian Finance Ministry has given the green light for the Russian National Wealth fund to diversify and invest in gold and other precious metals. According to a report by RT, this is part of a broader move to de-dollarize the wealth fund.

For the first time ever, Russia holds more gold than US dollars. According to a Central Bank of Russia report published this week and analyzed by Bloomberg, gold made up 23% of the Central Bank of Russia’s reserves as of the end of June. The bank’s share of dollar assets dropped to 22%. In 2018, […]

Russia’s second-largest bank is betting on gold to boost profits in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and global economic slowdown. According to a Bloomberg report, VTB Bank has prioritized gold trading in addition to lending to gold mining companies.

China has accumulated more than 100 tons of gold since it resumed buying the yellow metal last December in a quest to diversify its reserves away from the US dollar. The People’s Bank of China added another 5.9 tons of gold to its hoard in September, according to data on its website reported by Bloomberg. […]

We’ve written extensively about a push toward de-dollarization by countries like Russia and China and their desire to undermine the ability of the US to weaponize the dollar as a foreign policy tool. The global gold rush on the part of central banks is part of this movement. And it’s not just countries like Russia […]