Laurent Maurel

By cutting domestic demand for cryptocurrencies, Beijing is automatically redirecting savings diversification toward the only officially approved alternative asset: physical gold.

In the past, during periods of nervousness, uncertainty, or obvious risk, volatility rose. Today, this mechanism is broken. In this environment, there is only one asset left that does its job of providing protection: physical gold.

What we are experiencing today is a cash crisis. The major bond crisis, the one that will call into question the sustainability of public debt, will undoubtedly come – but later. Gold, meanwhile, is navigating this landscape perfectly.

Gold reacts not to rhetoric, but to substance. The Busan summit was supposed to symbolize economic reconciliation between the world's two largest powers. But behind the facade of diplomatic appeasement, reality remains that of a fragmented world, where strategic tensions persist and confidence in...

The incident that occurred on the night of November 3 to 4 marks a real stress test for the entire crypto liquidity system. In this context, only one asset escapes the logic of chain collapse: physical gold.

At first glance, everything seems under control: stocks are holding steady and the U.S. economy is resilient. And yet, something is going wrong in the global financial system. In recent days, the cost of very short-term cash – the SOFR rate – has risen sharply.

The decline of the gold price simply reflects the scarcity of dollars. When financing tightens, funds temporarily sell their most liquid positions – including gold. Historically, these periods of consolidation in a stressful monetary environment always precede sharp recoveries.

While the stock markets are driven by algorithms and bitcoin is kept afloat by synthetic liquidity, the silver market highlights the divide between paper and reality.

The prices of gold and silver have just set new historical records, confirming the monetary regime shift that major global investors have been anticipating for several years.

With the US government shutdown, “fiscal QE” came to an abrupt halt. It comes at a time when the US Treasury has become the central player in providing liquidity to the system. The longer the situation drags on, the more the pipeline seizes up – and the greater the likelihood of an accident.

For two years, observers have been puzzled by a paradox: while the Fed is reducing the size of its balance sheet through quantitative tightening (QT), the M2 money supply is on the rise. The key to this mystery lies in the growing role of money market funds (MMFs).

Since the beginning of the year, the greenback has already fallen by nearly 10%, reaching a new low. The dollar's weakness is not the result of an external shock, but rather a deliberate action by the authorities to preserve financial stability.

The situation in the US labor market now highlights its profound fragility, after two years of embellished statistics. In September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics made the largest negative revision in the history of payrolls.

Mitch Vexler, a real estate developer turned whistleblower, detailed what he considers to be a ticking time bomb at the heart of the US financial system: the way property taxes fuel public school funding and school bonds.

On September 8, the French government will face a decisive confidence vote. The risk is clear: if the government fails and the general strike brings the country to a standstill, France could plunge into a systemic bond and banking crisis within a matter of days, with no credible political support...

We are at a turning point. Markets are behaving as if the liquidity party could last forever, even though the hidden reserve that supported it has disappeared. And it is precisely this kind of configuration that paves the way for the most brutal reversals.

The long-term outlook – sustained inflation and long-term interest rates anchored on an upward trajectory – is one of the pillars supporting gold prices over the long term. This is particularly true given that, at this stage, no one is really significantly exposed to it.

Central banks are preparing for a world where the dollar will no longer be the only credible store of value. As monetary uncertainty grows, gold is regaining its central role as a trusted asset that is outside the system, liquid, and free of counterparty risk.

The obvious loss of effectiveness of the Bank of Japan's interventions is reflected in the immediate reaction of assets deemed to be barometers of confidence, foremost among them gold in local currency.

Japan is said to have agreed, in return for tariff cuts, to use part of its sovereign wealth funds to finance US strategic projects. Confidence is crumbling. Gold is becoming the last credible refuge for Japanese households and institutions.