Free Republic

The Plan to Link the Dollar to Gold Again on July 4th, 2026 | Interview with Judy Shelton

China has hit the jackpot, once again, after discovering one of the largest deposits of gold ever recorded in the country’s history. Off the back of surging gold prices, the discovery could be worth upwards of $192 billion. China’s Ministry of Natural Resources reported that the Dadonggou deposit in the northeastern province of Liaoning contains about 2.586 million tonnes of gold ore, according to Chinese state media. With an average grade of 0.56 grams per tonne, this totals around 1,444 tonnes of gold. Some media reports have claimed the load could be worth over $192 billion at current prices. To...

According to a Live Science report, a 2,200-year-old gold coin was discovered by a metal detectorist in eastern Germany. Known as "rainbow cups" for their curved shape and the folklore that treasure can be found where a rainbow touches the ground, such coins were minted by the Celts, who did not inhabit this region. Only two other Celtic coins have been found in the German state of Saxony, and are thought to have been obtained through trade between the Celts and Germanic-speaking people. Saxony state archaeologist Regina Smolnik said that this rainbow cup is in excellent condition, and was therefore...

(Kitco News) – Italy is considering a one-off levy for households to declare gold that is being held off the books – a move that could raise over 2 billion euros, or $2.3 billion, according to an amendment to the 2026 budget seen by Reuters. The proposal would allow individuals to pay a one-time tax of 12.5% to certify the market value of their bullion, gold jewelry, and collectible coins for which purchase records are missing – the same rate levied on government bonds. Under the proposal, the certification must be done by June 2026. Under current rules, the lack...

Daiji World reports that workers restoring a Shiva temple near the Javvadu Hills in India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu discovered 103 gold coins dated to the Chola period, which spanned the ninth through the thirteenth centuries A.D. The coins had been neatly stacked in a pot and buried beneath the temple floor. The temple is thought to have been built during the reign of King Rajaraja Cholan III, between 1216 and 1246. Temple wealth flourished during the late Chola period, when gold-based trade networks were active across South India, according to researchers from the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments...

Gold has entered its third major breakout in the past half-century, and investors are divided on what’s really driving it. The last two run-ups in the 1970s and early 2010s ended badly for late buyers. Yet this year’s explosive move has sparked a wave of optimism rooted in one assumption: this time is different.That phrase has a dangerous history. Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff used it as the title of their book on recurring financial disasters, a reminder that bubbles often disguise themselves as “new eras.”Gold, traditionally viewed as the antidote to reckless governments and unstable currencies, has doubled over...

Quote of the week: “Inflation is when you pay fifteen dollars for the ten-dollar haircut you used to get for five dollars when you had hair. “ - Sam EwingThe ‘debasement trade’ has been gathering momentum all year, but it's really gathered momentum in the financial media lately. And then just to keep everyone on their toes, the gold price took a tumble on Tuesday. So what is the debasement trade? Is it real, and should you be following it?In this piece, we’ll unpack what debasement really means, why it’s driving markets today, and how to think about real assets,...

There’s a gold empire hiding in plain sight. Not in history books. Not in museums. But right now — operating in secret, controlling more wealth than most nations. This is the story of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) — the mysterious institution in Basel, Switzerland, that acts as the central bank of central banks. Created after World War I, it quietly became the world’s most powerful financial entity — managing the hidden gold that backs nations, funds wars, and shapes the global economy. From Nazi gold transactions to Bretton Woods, to modern gold manipulation through paper markets, the BIS...

A Chinese woman has been arrested and charged over the theft of gold from the Natural History Museum in Paris, in one of several recent high-profile break-ins targeting French cultural institutions, a prosecutor said Tuesday. The theft — by what the museum's director at the time said was an "extremely professional team" — took place on Sept. 16, a little over a month before an audacious jewelry heist at the world-famous Louvre museum on Sunday. A 24-year-old Chinese woman was arrested in Barcelona on Sept. 30 over the Natural History Museum break-in and theft of gold worth more than $1...

@Crypto_Tengen Peter Schiff reveals he will be launching a tokenized gold product "You'll be able to buy gold on an app through your phone, the gold will be stored in a vault and then you will be able to effortlessly transfer ownership of gold to people you know or redeem it for physical gold"

Wall Street’s power brokers are using a gold revaluation to rewrite the rules—turning massive silver losses into multi-billion windfalls overnight and signaling a seismic shift in the global financial…. That’s exactly how JP Morgan Chase is playing the metals market today. The bank has been hammered on its sprawling silver short—dozens of holes down, figuratively speaking. But instead of folding, it’s hit the most audacious “press” in modern finance: going long gold. By championing the narrative of $10,000 gold, the institution is resetting the game mid‑round, leveraging the new bet to erase the sting of the old one. If the...

Crypto prices tumbled amid investor concerns over economic stability and escalating trade disputes. Bitcoin and Ethereum, the two major cryptocurrencies, crashed after United States President Donald Trump announced a 100% tariff on 'any and all critical software' import goods from China. The continuing trade tensions between the two countries were significantly heightened by this move. According to Reuters, Bitcoin had dropped 8.4% to £78,000 ($104,782) as of 21:20 GMT. Ethereum also had a 5.8% decline, settling at £2,700 ($3,637). XRP, DOGE and Ada fell around 19%, 27%, and 25% in the last 24 hours, respectively, Bloomberg reported.…..

Konstantin Ganich, a Ukrainian crypto blogger and trader known online as Kostya Kudo, was found dead in a Lamborghini today amid a severe cryptocurrency market downturn. The incident occurred as digital assets experienced extreme volatility, intensifying ongoing discussions about mental health challenges facing crypto traders and influencers. Ukraine has seen growing cryptocurrency adoption as residents seek economic resilience amid national financial pressures. Galish had been promoting trading strategies during this period of market instability. Recent crypto market fluctuations have created widespread distress across the trading community, particularly affecting high-profile investors and social media influencers who built followings around digital asset...

Central banks have crossed a symbolic line: their combined gold reserves now exceed their U.S. Treasury holdings for the first time in nearly three decades.The crossover underscores a gradual diversification away from dollar-denominated securities and toward hard assets.This visualization, via Visual Capitalist's Bruno Venditti, tracks how these shares have evolved from the 1970s to today.The data comes from Crescat Capital macro strategist Tavi Costa.From Petrodollars to De-DollarizationAfter the end of Bretton Woods, soaring real interest rates and the rise of the petrodollar steered reserve managers toward U.S. Treasuries through the 1980s and 1990s.In the 2000s, the dollar’s depth and liquidity...

The classic Downfall bunker meme gets a 2025 twist. Silver has smashed through $50, the short-side generals are panicking, and their trusted market-rigging AI — COMEX-GPT — starts glitching and twitching. Watch the mayhem unfold as the paper shorts crumble and the physical market takes control.

Gold is in the middle of what looks like an unstoppable bull run. It has already punched through $4,000 an ounce. At the rate the price is rising, it may well go to $5,000 within a few weeks, and perhaps even $6,000 as the next year unfolds. There have been lots of different explanations for this, from the looming collapse of the dollar, to secret Chinese buying, to the conspiracy theories circulating on the wilder fringes of the internet, such a secret plot to re-establish the gold standard, or attempts to replace all the metal that is meant to be...

The cost of Gordon Brown’s decision to sell the nation’s gold on the cheap 25 years ago has ballooned to £35billion. The then-Labour Chancellor sold 395 tonnes of bullion between 1999 and 2002 for a paltry £2.6billion. The gold price has soared since then, hitting a record high of $4,040 an ounce on Wednesday.

Key Points Gold futures broke above $4,000 per ounce on Tuesday for the first time. The precious metal has soared this year as investors seek a safe haven from a weaker dollar and geopolitical and economic uncertainty. ============================================================= Gold prices hit $4,000 for the first time ever Tuesday as investors seek a safe haven from a weaker dollar, geopolitical volatility, economic uncertainty and stubborn inflation. Gold futures were last trading at $4,005.80 per ounce. Prices have gained more than 50% this year as the U.S. dollar index has dropped 10% and President Donald Trump upends the global trade system and...

Monday's off to a busy start! As investors and traders await any developments from Washington DC, Tom White points out the fact that in the previous 5 government shutdowns equity markets actually rose higher. He joins Diane King Hall to set up the trading week before turning to a pair of big premarket movers. AMD (AMD) is jumping on news that it reached a deal to sell a potential 10% stake to OpenAI in tranches. And, Micron (MU) begins Monday's action with an upgrade at Morgan Stanley and a new price target to $220. Market Rally: AMD/OpenAI Deal, MU Upgrade...

Comex is effectively the largest gold and silver mine, with stand for deliveries a source for bullion. The conversion of paper gold and silver into bullion is now conspicuous. It cannot last. As our headline chart illustrates, gold and particularly silver have had a good week with prices continuing to rise. In European trade this morning, gold was $3860, up $101 from last Friday’s close. And silver at $47.33 was up $1.30 on the week. So far this year, gold is up 47% and silver by 63%. The question on everyone’s lips is will it continue? The answer appears to...