Free Republic

Latest commentary details ambitions for ‘powerful currency’ to play a greater role in trade and forex. .....Xi Jinping has called for the renminbi to become a global reserve currency, in some of his clearest comments on his ambitions for China’s currency as Beijing seeks to play a greater role in the international The publication of Xi’s comments comes amid heightened uncertainty in global markets as a weaker US dollar — which President Donald Trump last week called a “great” development — a change in leadership of the Federal Reserve and geopolitical and trade tensions have prompted central banks to rethink...

Strategy, the company that invented the digital asset treasury playbook, disclosed a fresh Bitcoin buy even as crypto prices slumped amid a broader market drawdown.

Last year might have proved a good time to own shares in the chip-maker Nvidia, along with the booming American tech giants. Or a piece of the defence manufacturers as the world re-arms. Or to hold a position in some of the rapidly growing economies of South America or Asia, or even one of the hyped-up crypto currencies. There were plenty of places investors expected to make money over the past year. As it turned out, however, there was one asset that outpaced them all, even though it generates no income: gold, and to an even greater extent, its junior...

The International Monetary Fund is preparing for the possibility of a rapid sell-off of U.S. dollar-denominated assets, its managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, said today. "At the fund, one muscle that we are building is our ability to hypothetically present scenarios of unthinkable events and then figure out what to do," Georgieva said at an event hosted by Bruegel, a Brussels-based think-tank. Asked whether the scenarios include a potential run on dollar assets, Georgieva said the fund runs "all kinds of scenarios" and that it was examining the issue as part of its ongoing analysis. Her comments come as Donald Trump's...

Gold crossing $5,000 an ounce is not a technical breakout, a speculative frenzy, or a “risk-on trade.” It is a judgment. Silver pushing past $100 last week only reinforces the point. These prices are not expressions of optimism about growth or productivity. They are expressions of doubt: about currencies, about governments, and about the institutions charged with preserving economic stability. What makes this moment different is not simply the level of prices, but the speed and unanimity with which investors have arrived at them. Gold did not grind higher over a decade of slow erosion in confidence. It vaulted. Silver...

India’s holdings of US Treasuries have seen a drop, sliding to the lowest level in five years....In fact, most economies around the world are reducing reliance on the world's largest bond market...With gold and other assets accounting for a growing share of reserves...

RAY DALIO SAYS THE MONETARY ORDER IS BREAKING DOWN AND FIAT IS NO LONGER A CENTRAL BANK ASSET. GOLD AND SILVER BECOME THE ANCHOR WHEN PAPER CONFIDENCE CRACKS.

Vanguard is going to allow bitcoin and crypto-linked exchange-traded funds and mutual funds to trade on its platform. Vanguard Group will allow bitcoin and crypto-linked exchange-traded funds and mutual funds to trade on its platform, reversing a policy that for years barred retail clients from accessing digital-asset products through the firm. Starting Tuesday, Vanguard brokerage customers will be able to trade ETFs and mutual funds that primarily hold select cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and other crypto, according to Bloomberg reporting. The move marks a shift for the world’s second-largest asset manager, which has long argued that digital assets were too volatile...

For 500 years, a pattern has destroyed every global superpower that followed it. Spain collapsed in the 1600s. Britain lost its empire by 1954. The Soviet Union disintegrated in 900 days. Three empires. Three complete collapses. All following the exact same seven-stage sequence. And the United States has already completed five of those seven stages. This documentary traces the collapse pattern across three superpowers and five centuries—from Spain's silver wealth that bankrupted the richest empire on Earth, to Britain's pound that lost reserve currency status within decades of two world wars, to the Soviet Union that went from superpower to...

Two Republican lawmakers have introduced a bill that would authorize the minting of 400,000 silver dollar coins featuring the image of Charlie Kirk, FOX News reported Sept. 24. The proposal, brought forward by Reps. August Pfluger, R-Texas, and Abe Hamadeh, R-Ariz., seeks to memorialize Kirk through limited-edition legal tender bearing his likeness, full name, and the inscription “well done, good and faithful servant.” The year 2026, the motto of the U.S., and other official markings would also appear. The final coin design would be selected by the Treasury Secretary in consultation with President Donald Trump. The text of the bill...

A new and potentially significant source of demand is that of demand from Iran. Iran imported a massive $1.2 billion worth of precious metals from Turkey in April alone. Turkish exports of gold, precious metals, pearls and coins to Iran rose to $1.2 billion in April from a tiny $7,500 a year earlier, according to figures released by the state statistics institute in Ankara yesterday. This is a massive increase in demand and suggests that there may be official involvement in the imports from the Central Bank of Iran. This trend continued in May when Turkish gold imports leapt by...

Rumors are circulating that the United States may begin to print $500 bills. The US Bureau of Engraving and Printing began printing $500 bills in 1861 until 1945, formally discontinuing them in 1969 when Nixon moved to close the gold window. The US Treasury has since required banks to send all $500 bills back to them to be destroyed, as the government claimed higher-denominated notes paved the way for criminal activity. Collectors know that the US Treasury issued $1,000, $5,000, $10,000, and even $100,000 notes once upon a time. The $100,000 bill featured President Woodrow Wilson and was issued as...

A 300‑billion‑dollar manager has forecast what could become the largest institutional inflow in crypto history. Mark Yusko, CEO of Morgan Creek Capital Management, expects roughly $300 billion to pour into Bitcoin and crypto markets over the next 12 months, driven in part by baby boomers entering via retirement accounts and ETFs. Mark Yusko believes that within 12 months, $300 billion will flow into the crypto sphere – this is 1% of $30 trillion. He linked the potential surge to spot Bitcoin ETF approvals in the U.S., which he sees as a key on-ramp for institutional capital previously excluded by custody...

While the world was distracted by the Epstein debacle, legislators introduced the GENUIS Act that would permit the US government to regulate stablecoins. The GENUIS (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act), primarily sponsored by Senator Bill Hagerty (R-Tennessee), permits the government to oversee, regulate, and define the $250 billion stablecoin market. Now, stablecoins differ from cryptocurrencies as they are pegged to a stable asset such as a fiat currency or commodity. Cryptocurrencies are allegedly allowed to freely operate on the market based on supply and demand. The GENIUS Act will peg stablecoins to the US dollar and...

On May 29, 2025, a bipartisan group of members in the House of Representatives from the Financial Services and Agriculture Committees introduced the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act. The bill seeks to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets in the United States, with regulatory jurisdiction primarily split between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

At Wednesday’s White House press briefing, Karoline Leavitt didn’t hold back. In a clear, methodical takedown, she laid out exactly who the deported suspected MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia is — and it’s everything the Democrats don’t want the public to know. Spoiler alert: This is no innocent victim of Trump’s deportation policy. “When Kilmar Abrego Garcia was originally arrested, he was wearing a sweatshirt with rolls of money covering the ears, mouth, and eyes of presidents on various currency denominations,” Leavitt said. “This is a known MS-13 gang symbol of ‘Hear no evil. Speak no evil. See no...

The Treasury Department is phasing out penny production by early next year after President Donald Trump ordered the government to halt the “wasteful” minting of the coins. The Treasury will stop making pennies by early 2026, which will require businesses to start rounding up or down to the nearest five cents, the agency confirmed in a statement to the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.

KEY FACTS: The Texas House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 21 (SB 21) with a 101-42 vote, approving the creation of a state-level strategic Bitcoin reserve. The bill, authored by Senator Charles Schwertner and sponsored by Representative Giovanni Capriglione, allows the Texas comptroller to invest in cryptocurrencies with a market cap exceeding $500 billion, currently limited to Bitcoin. Following New Hampshire and Arizona, Texas would be the third U.S. state to establish such a reserve if Governor Greg Abbott, a known crypto advocate, signs the bill within 20 days.

Cash is dead. Speech is scored. Freedom is conditional.. ... Mark Carney didn’t rise through politics. He was not elected. He was installed — by the very institutions that profit most from technocratic control and public obedience. Goldman Sachs. The Bank of Canada. The Bank of England. The Financial Stability Board. The World Economic Forum. Bilderberg. The Trilateral Commission. The Council for Inclusive Capitalism. This is a man who has spent his entire adult life inside the machinery of global finance and elite governance. Now, he’s running a country. Carney is no fool. He speaks in the hushed tones of...

In a massive sting operation straight out of a crime thriller, Spanish police have smashed one of Europe’s most powerful underworld banks – a slick, secretive syndicate laundering millions using the ancient and shadowy “hawala” method. Cash, crypto and contraband – the works. In unbelievable scenes, Spain’s National Police, backed by EUROPOL and EUROJUST, swooped on a web of luxury and illegality. The secret January raids – now revealed – saw over 250 officers hit 13 locations across Spain and Belgium in a coordinated blitz, nabbing 17 suspects, seizing mountains of loot and blowing apart a money-moving machine that had...