Central banks

So many articles and books have been written about gold as money, but so few about silver. However, a lot more silver has been used as money than gold, mostly because of its lower value and therefore being easier to transact for day-to-day needs.

Finance chiefs from the Group of Seven industrial nations agreed on Friday that including China's renminbi in the International Monetary Fund's currency basket is desirable, but a technical review must be completed first.

According to central bank data, Russia's gold reserves rose to 40.1 million troy ounces as of May 1 compared with 39.8 million ounces a month earlier.

Russia and China are setting the stage for a gold-backed currency, in preparation for the day the Dollar reserve hegemony finally ends.

Austrian central bank plans to keep 50% of its gold reserves in Austria vs 17% now, Kronen-Zeitung reports, citing governor Ewald Nowotny’s unpublished new “gold strategy.”

China could shock the world when it announces its gold reserves. Any amount above 8,000 tonnes will be a shock in the central bank community and the gold market. Why is China accumulating so much gold? Why is China encouraging its citizens so hard to buy gold?

Gold has been and still is a de facto currency of last resort. When everything else fails gold shines again. In addition, both China and Russia are preparing themselves for the possible collapse of the present monetary system by buying as much gold as possible.

Max Keiser interviews Egon von Greyerz about negative interest rates/wealth confiscation and the top three candidate bubbles.

Even though Switzerland is a very small country it plays a major role in the gold and foreign exchange markets and can create a shock with a very large impact that some call loosely a “black swan” event.

The People's Bank of China may have tripled its gold stockpile since April 2009, when it last gave an official number, which Bloomberg Intelligence estimates to be 3,510 metric tons, second to United States 8,133.5 tons of gold.