Posted on

Brazil & China to Start Trading in Renminbi, Japan Buys Russian Oil Above Price Caps

FindBullionPrices.com

The dollar is quickly losing ground in the global south as BRICS countries initiate trade deals in local currencies.

China and Brazil announced this week a new trade deal that will be settled in their own currencies. The news comes amid reports that the Chinese RMB has surpassed the Euro to become the currency with the second largest reserves held by Brazil.

Yet, the dollar still represents more than 80% of the countries foreign reserves.

The central bank report also shows that the value of Brazil’s international reserves lost over $37.5 billion in 2021 and 2022, due in large part to lower returns amid the US Federal Reserve’s rate hikes and dollar manipulation.

China has been Brazil’s largest trading partner, overtaking the United States in 2009. China has pledged to continue making significant investments in the largest economy in South America, with major spending across energy, mining, agriculture and information-and-communication technology.

As of February 2023, the Central Bank of Brazil reported gold holdings worth $7.602 billion, down slightly from $8.103 billion in March of 2022. It’s probable that some of the gold that China has been stockpiling was exchanged for yuan.

China continues pushing trade in the southern hemisphere moving bilateral trade agreements away from the dollar as part of the overall “One Belt One Road” initiative.

The Bank of International Settlements (BIS), the driving force pushing for global CBDC adoption and the organization that controls the SWIFT banking network lists gold bullion as a Tier 1 asset alongside United States Treasury Bills.

Rio-based Banco BOCOM BBM, a subsidiary of China’s fifth largest bank will be connected to the Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS), bypassing the SWIFT network to support trade settlements directly in renminbi.

BRICS countries have been buying gold and stocking up their reserves in anticipation for more than a decade establishing stronger trade ties among the emerging economies. Over the last decade, Russia alone has quintupled their central bank gold holdings affirming its strong leadership role with the emerging Moscow World Standard for clearing commodities outside of Western manipulated markets.

Central Banks will continue to buy gold in large amounts to provide scaffolding for larger bilateral trade deals in local currency in preparation for the announcement of a BRICS basket currency that is expected to come during the BRICS Summit in South Africa in August of this year.

The price of gold has been trending higher this year as mainstream and retail investors continue to hedge riskier portfolio holdings due to tremendous uncertainty in the dollar’s global dominance.

Posted on

New Gold-Backed ETF Adds Extra Greenwashing Fees

FindBullionPrices.com

Citing an increase in demand, UBS has partnered with PAMP-Suisse to create a new line of gold bullion bars that will be the investment vehicle that backs a new ETF geared towards “climate-conscious” investors.

The climate consciousness claims are derived from a partnership with not-for-profit-private company named Climate Trust.

Climate Trust has been providing solutions to the “Climate Crisis” since sometime between 1999-2001 and has raised at least $25 million from a variety of investors, according to Crunchbase.

The consultancy helps business and governments decarbonize using “industry standards” that appear to have been established by themselves. The organization reportedly audits the supply chain and helps facilitate the purchasing of carbon offsets to counter the CO2 emissions that are generated from mine to refinery and storage.

The carbon-neutral cast gold bars are refined and delivered to LBMA specifications.

The cost for investors to buy into this new ETF is significantly higher than the non-carbon neutral gold ETF already available to investors.

According to Greenpeace, carbon offsets are a part of a greenwashing scam and are part of the ESG movements efforts to guilt people into paying a higher amount for the sake of social or environmental justice.

It may be of greater impact for climate conscious investors to plant trees in their neighborhood or community as a more effective, less expensive and direct carbon offset rather than paying a higher premium to the bankers to invest in this new ETF.

Posted on

Texas Bill Proposes Gold-Backed Digital Currency

FindBullionPrices.com

Elected officials from both the Texas Senate and House have proposed complementary bills to create a state issued digital currency option that would be backed with gold.

The State of Texas would hold gold in a trust require the state comptroller establish a digital currency that is fully backed by gold bullion for everyday transactions. The state issued digital currency would be fully redeemable for either fiat cash or gold.

The proposed digital fiat would be a legal alternative to Federal Reserve notes or any CBDC and shows strong leadership amongst the states in developing sound money principals.

There is growing interest across a variety of states to return to a gold standard.

The Goldback currency is a good example of a grass-roots level gold-backed specie. that is accepted for goods and services in Wyoming, Utah, New Hampshire and Nevada. Each foil note contains a fractional amount of gold based on the face value shown.

Goldbacks notes are available in a variety of denominations that are smaller than those typically found in fractional gold coins.

The Texas Bullion Depository

After the end of the Great Recession in 2012, elected officials sought to reassure Texans of the financial soundness of the state. The result is a state-of-the-art secure bullion depository that has been in operation just outside of Austin in Leander, TX.

The Texas Bullion Depository opened on June 1, 2018.

End the Fed

There has been a growing movement afoot amongst states to return to the notion of sound money as it’s described in the constitution.

Last year, the Fed announced a twelve week long trial of an interbank CBDC program amongst a variety of private banks and government agencies.

Last week, under the guise of the current banking crisis, policymakers at the Fed launched the FedNow service and will be requiring banks begin using it later this year.

There are many controversies surrounding the adoption of CBDC by the Federal Reserve. The long term goal of central bank digital currencies is to eventually remove all cash, coinage and paper money from the economy.

Removing cash from the economy and replacing it with a digital software token allows a central authority to control how you spend your money.

The Federal Reserve is the Central Bank of the United States. Many believe that the bank is owned by the US government. However, the Federal Reserve is a private bank that pays itself the profit of the interest payments on government debt.

In 1910, a group of elite bankers and politicians met in secret at a resort on a private island off the coast of Georgia and came up with the Aldrich plan which evolved into the Federal Reserve Act of 1913.

Today, the Federal Reserve system is a series of twelve regional central banks that are overseen by a board of governors.

Each Reserve Bank is organized like a corporation. The member banks in each region own the capital stock of each regional reserve bank.

In simplest terms, the regional reserve banks are private companies that are given authority by the government to operate banking and economic activity on its behalf.

The reserve banks are instruments of the government and are neither wholly nor partially owned by the government. Employees are not civil service employees and the Fed continues to operate when the government shuts down.

There are currently several bills circulating in both the House and the Senate to block the Fed Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency in the United States.

Posted on

Budget Friendly Fractional Gold Bars

FindBullionPrices.com

Gold is the oldest form of money that is generally recognized everywhere in the world. It is also traded as a futures market commodity and daily trading activity around the world effects the price.

The global trading activity can cause the gold spot price to change every minute around the clock six days per week.

Today’s gold spot price is based on buying a futures contract that contains a 10, 50 or 100 troy ounces of gold. Beyond the price of the metal, there are additional costs that can stack up for fulfillment and delivery.

Some of the gold bars moving out of the COMEX vaults in recent months make their way to both government and private mints for pressing, pouring, machining and casting into smaller and more affordable weight denominations.

Today, there are thousands of available products when shopping for a gold investment. Investors that are considering fractional gold bars have many to choose from.

Fractional gold bars are ones that are minted with a weight of less than 1 troy ounce. In some cases they are measured in fractions of an ounce in increments that are similar to coins, such as 1/10 oz, 1/4 oz and 1/2 oz.

Most of the newly minted gold bullion in the marketplace today are produced by refineries and mints in Europe and Asian where measuring with the metric system is standard. It’s becoming much more common to find gold bars for sale are measured on a gram scale than in fractions of an ounce.

Gold gram bars are an excellent choice to add to your investment stack. They are extremely liquid and easy to convert to fiat if needed. They are also a lot friendly on the wallet than buying a full ounce at time.

And having an assortment of different size gold gram bars may be a practical way to be prepared if you ever need to barter. There are even some options available to buy half gram gold bars from various manufacturers.

When it comes to pricing, smaller gold bars are typically in a price range that is affordable to a wider range of investors. It is also important to remember that smaller bars will frequently have a higher dealer premium than larger sizes.

Less than $100

One Gram Gold Bars

Fractional one gram gold bars are a practical and popular investment option. They are perfect for stacking and can be purchased affordably.

Online bullion dealers offer newly minted 1 gram gold bars in their factory sealed assay card which helps assure that you’re buying an authentic product. Many local coin shops that carry products from Valcambi will often break off gold Combibars into the 1 gram increments. A variety of online dealers do this as well and will sell them as secondary market 1 gram gold bars.

Less than $500

2 Gram Gold Bars & 2.5 gram gold bars

Various refineries manufacture 2 gram bars and 2.5 gram gold bars for investors to capture some savings on the premiums. Both of these sizes are convenient, interesting and unique size denominations.

Sometimes you can find these in the bargain bin at local coin stores as there are only a few refineries making newly minted bars in these sizes.

5 gram gold bars

Five gram gold bars offer a significant savings in premiums over smaller sizes. You will find that premiums will be lower on Random 5 gram gold bar than smaller size fractional gold bars.

Newly minted bars are manufactured by notable private mints such as PAMP Suisse and Valcambi. There are also various 5 gram gold bars that are backed by government mints such as Perth and the Royal Mint.

Less than $1,000

10 gram gold bars

The next option for those with a slightly higher budget is the 10 gram gold bar. These bars contain .3215 troy ounces of gold, just slightly less than 1/3 of an ounce.

The denseness of these bars can be felt in your hand. Newly minted bar will come sealed in a sealed plastic assay card holder, while secondary market 10 gram gold bars will most likely be shipped in a plastic coin flip.

Posted on

Banking Crisis Excites Investor Demand for Silver and Gold

FindBullionPrices.com

Gold is money. Period. The fiat paper currency that we use for daily transactions is little more than an IOU from the government. Except with inflation, the value of fiat keep getting lower and lower.

The start of the latest banking crisis began with the failure of SVB that was quickly followed by Signature Bank. Regulators attempting to prevent bank runs put up ‘backstop’ to ensure depositors that their funds will be safe and accessible.

The current Orwellian doublespeak flaunted by the mainstream press is driven by regulators trying to convince customers that this time is different. It’s essentially a bank bailout.

The big global banks like JP Morgan and Bank of America have seen an influx in deposits as smaller regional banks continue to request emergency funds from the Fed.

Hot on the heals of this banking crisis, the Federal Reserve has announced that it will rolling out its FedNow instant payment service in July which many see as a precursor to CBDC rollout.

As the stock market continues to tumble, the latest news about Credit Suisse and from the Bank of Japan may be sending the Western world into a recession as some analyst are predicting that Russia, China and Iran are on the cusp of launching of a BRICS gold-backed currency that will unseat the dollar’s hegemony.

Over the past few weeks investor uncertainty has returned to the stock markets as retail investors pile into precious metals in volume unseen since the start of the pandemic.

Estimates of precious metals sales based on inventory data from APMEX shows record sales of both gold and silver.

Gold sales at APMEX topped 27,000 troy ounces in the past seven days. While sales of silver bullion exceeding over 1 million troy ounces in the same seven day period.

FindBullionPrices.com tracks prices from dozens on online bullion dealers, including APMEX. APMEX is one of the largest and most popular bullion dealers in the country.

As precious metals prices remain relatively low many other online dealers are reporting delays in shipping as order volume continues to rise.

Retail investors looking for deals to add to their stack can often find the best prices when buying random year or secondary market coins.

The secondary market is where previous year gold bullion coins are traded between investors and dealers. These coins may have been stored since the year they were minted or may have traded hands dozens of times. Regardless, these gold coins maintain their intrinsic value and will continue to be a store of wealth for future generations.

Stacking physical gold and silver bullion a one way to help protect the financial security of your family in ways far beyond that of trading crypto or ETFs.

First time precious metals buyers are invited to checkout the current Spot Deals page for offers from online dealers to buy silver for spot price. Gold buyers also have the opportunity to buy 1 oz gold bar at spot price.

Posted on

1 oz Gold Bar at Spot Price

FindBullionPrices.com

Interest in precious metals continues to spread far and wide as the turmoil in the economy begins to take hold. New investors often have a lot of uncertainty when first learning about precious metals and dealer premiums can raise questions for some.

Many new investors discovered precious metals through spot price deals that were once promoted by numerous dealers prior to the start of the pandemic. Those offers allowed precious metals buyers the chance to buy silver with no dealer markup.

Mining shutdowns, supply chain issue and strong investor demand for silver put an temporary end to those offers until recently.

SD Bullion was the first online bullion dealer to return with a silver at spot price deal earlier this year. New investors can buy one 5 oz silver bar at spot price.

JM Bullion has recently returned with a special offer for those interested in gold.

The Gold Starter Kit from JM Bullion is now available and offers new investors the opportunity to buy a 1 oz gold bar at spot price.

Gold is long considered one of the best investment options when looking for a long term store of value to be a hedge against inflation.

Owning physical gold and silver are one of the few asset options that has no counter-party risk.

Posted on

Man Arrested Smuggling 7 kilos of Gold Inside Oxygen Generator

FindBullionPrices.com

Customs officials in Delhi announced the discovery of seven kilos in gold bars stashed inside a medical oxygen generator.

The passenger is reportedly a medic from Kenya traveling with a family to India for cardiac surgery for their child.

The 7 gold kilo bars were stashed in the bag carrying the device providing oxygen support for the 4-month old infant he was accompanying.

A video posted by the Asian News International on Twitter shows customs agents demonstrating where they uncovered the stash of kilos.

In a separate incident, two people traveling from Singapore were arrested in Chennai after customs agents searched their luggage and found 6.8kg of undeclared gold.

Crossing most borders with precious metals is perfectly legal. However, if the value of the gold is over a certain amount it must be declared to customs with the proper forms. The threshold amount can vary but typically precious metals valued above $10,000 or equivalent local currency must be declared upon arrival.

A video posted to YouTube three years ago by @SWPCayman provides further details about traveling with precious metals.

Posted on

Preparing for the Impending CBDC Crisis

FindBullionPrices.com

Throughout the pandemic, the federal government’s ongoing dictation of seemingly bad policies was an intentional effort to upend the normal everyday lives of millions of people.

As has been pointed out, it is not a conspiracy theory to believe that the central bank intends to control the spending behavior of people using central bank programmable software tokens instead of currency.

The general manager of the banking cartel explicitly announced it to an audience of other central bank leaders during their annual meeting in 2020.

The Bank of International Settlements is an organization owned by its members, the Central Banks of 63 member countries, and acts as a self regulator.

The BIS is creator and establisher of the rules for banks to operate in the global ecosystem of international trade. They also have control over the SWIFT banking network, foreign currency exchange and other major parts of the global economy.

During the group’s annual meeting in 2020, the General Manager of the organization explained to the audience how CBDC will give the central bank absolute control over the rules, regulations and policies that will dictate how money is used down to the transaction level.

During the recorded videoconference he discusses how CDBC technology will be used to force changes in spending behavior amongst consumers and enforce consumer spending policies on behalf of the government.

Last year, Biden signed Executive Order 14067 in order to advance development of CBDCs to skirt push forward without Congressional approval. As usually, there has been a total lack of accountability or transparency.

So far, Federal Reserve and US Treasury have been working in relative secrecy, publishing only a small amount of vague and high-level papers and studies with several quietly announced project trials in conjunction with notable large global banks. Most of the press releases have come during times when other stories were the major focus of the mainstream media, such as the collapse of FTX.

At least one bill has been drafted by Congress in an attempt to prevent the Federal Reserve from weaponizing CBDC against US citizens. However, the rollout of central bank digital currencies is likely to happen soon if and when the Biden administration can attach it to a banking crisis like the failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).

More recent announcements show that the Fed and Biden Admin intend to roll out a CBDC even without the authority of Congress.

In a speech to the Atlantic Council, Treasury undersecretary for domestic finance told the attendees that a CBDC Working Group consisting of policy makers from a variety of agencies is developing an initial set of findings and recommendations to support the Biden administrations agenda.

Make no mistake, the central banks have made it crystal clear that they are coming for your money and will tell you how you can spend it. The move into CBDC in lieu of traditional currency is a political power grab with the goal of having further control of your life.

Nigeria’s Failed Experiment

Initially, the Nigerian government tried several soft approaches to encourage the adoption of CBDC. These included financial incentives such as offering discounts to taxi drivers and passengers to encourage use and adoption. All of which failed.

The government quickly turned to coercive measures once it became clear that the people weren’t interested.

The largest measures include the introduction of a new currency and devaluing the old currency along with adding restriction on cash withdrawals throughout the country. The plan included the issuance of new currency notes, but only enough to cover 85% of the current naira while promoting cashless transactions by limiting the use of cash for businesses.

Beyond banknote swap, the banking regulators placed policy restrictions limiting cash withdrawals from banks and ATMs to reduce the amount of cash in circulation. With limits of $225 on individuals and $1,110 on businesses to force CBDC adoption.

Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele said, “The destination, as far as I am concerned, is to achieve a 100% cashless economy in Nigeria.”

The central bank began devaluing in the months before the switch while removing old notes from circulation leaving millions of Nigerians with no money or food.

Nigerians have violently rejected the new digital currency and cash restrictions as protests and riots have broken out outside of banks and spread throughout the country.

The war on cash and some form of crisis will bring on the introduction of CBDCs.

Precious Metals Stacking for CBDC Insurance

Gold and silver are the oldest and most trusted form of money. With all of the uncertainty in the economy, gold is safe haven from fiat and digital currency tokens.

Investing some of your cash in buying physical gold and silver bullion can help keep you in control of your financial future.

Posted on

Gold at Home is Insurance Against the Next Bank Failure

FindBullionPrices.com

This week, customers of the failed bank woke up to find their money gone after SVB received accolades from mainstream media praising the bank as one of best.

Executives cashed out millions in recent weeks before SVG was taken over by regulators. Customers stood outside in long lines trying to get their money.

The failure began with a bank run withdrawal of $42 billion.

Gold is a proven hedge against inflation and a proven long term store of value. Having gold as part of your overall portfolio offers a defensive strategy strategy when there is a lot of uncertainty about other investments. In some cases, this now includes even holding cash in banks during high inflation period.

Yellen initially expressed “full confidence” in the government’s abilities to respond to the situation. While the White House released a statement affirming that it too is confident that regulators have the situation under control.

The latest moves have all the makings of a major bailout. The Fed’s new “emergency bank funding program” will make an unlimited amount of funds available to cover customer deposits.

Inflation continues to run hot and the Fed is likely to pause continuing rate hikes as trading has been halted by numerous banking stocks as the fallout from the SVB failure continue to spread.

Owning physical precious metals such as gold and silver is considered by financial experts as one of the best ways to safeguard some of your cash.

Posted on

Understanding Investment Grade Gold Coins

FindBullionPrices.com
vintage gold coins

While ETFs like SLV and GLD may help balance out your stock portfolio, the crypto markets continue to raise anxiety for investors, tucking away some gold coins in a discrete location can give you financial security and peace of mind. Gold Coins are an investment that you want to hold and it’s a wise idea to have a stack.

A key concept to understand is that gold ownership is a store of wealth. When you buy coins minted of precious metals you are transferring your hard-earned fiat currency into a physical asset. The value of gold is driven by the commodities markets, central bank buying and its innovative use by industry.

Which Gold Coin is Ideal for Stacking?

All major gold bullion coins that are manufacturered by government backed mints are widely recognized worldwide. While the full one troy ounce of gold coin is the most popular, various fractional ounce sizes are available for investors of all budgets.

The allure and luster of pure 24k gold is part of what draws investors to some coins. They prefer the beauty, color and the way pure gold reflects light.

Other investors have a preference for stacking coins that are more practical and made for the rigors of circulating in the economy. Modern and vintage 22k gold coins contain an alloy that incorporates other metals for durability and scratch resistance when handling.

The prestigious 1 ounce Gold American Buffalo from the US Mint is one of the best selling pure gold coins. This coin is highly revered for the immaculate detail in the design. However, the Gold Maple Leaf, Britannia and a variety of gold coins from the Perth Mint are also the same purity and often available for a significantly lower price from one or more online bullion dealers for the same amount of gold.

Modern Gold Coins

The US Mint produces millions of gold coins each year in the Eagle and Buffalo series’ plus a variety of commemorative issues that highlight and celebrate American values and culture.

Various laws passed by Congress require that the US Mint to charge wholesalers a premium over spot price to cover the costs of manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution of newly minted coins. The pandemic lockdowns caused a chain reaction that led to increasing costs along the entire supply chain from mine to mint.

Sovereign owned mints, such as those in Canada, Europe and Asia also have large-scale operations for producing coins for investment. Lower foreign manufacturing costs combined with other market-driving factors put the prices of these legal tender coins at a lower premium over spot than those produced domestically.

Even though they have a nominal face value in a foreign currency, most are also eligible for inclusion in a precious metals IRA based on their legal-tender status and gold purity.

Vintage Gold Coins

Long before the invention of paper money and fiat, gold has a long traditional history as money that has proven to stand the test of time. Pure gold is very soft and easily damaged during circulation. Many vintage gold coins are minted from a 22k gold alloy, which blends other metals such as copper and silver to provide rigidness.

Gold coins were the acceptable currency for everyday spending, making major purchases and for international trade.

The lust for gold and wealth was the primary driver of Colonial expansion during the 18th and early 19th centuries.

European kings and monarchs built mints in far away places to create coins from their newly acquired riches. The Spanish were the first to establish a mint in North America in 1535 to melt down Aztec treasures into Spanish gold escudos coins.

The British established a branch of the Royal Mint in Western Australia to mint Gold Sovereign coins that later become the Perth Mint.

For hundreds of years, coins such as British Gold Sovereigns, the 20 francs and other European gold coins like the Gold Corona were minted with qualities that made them ideal for circulation and to withstand generations.

Gold is Insurance Against CBDC

The record amounts of stockpiling by central banks is recent years is a top indication that there is a global economic shift towards a gold-backed currency for international trade.

Many countries, particularly in the Middle East, Africa and Asia have been ramping up their gold buying in preparation for the introduction of a BRICS+ commodity-based basket currency.

Gold is a unique physical asset that is easily exchangeable into cash. Having a portion of your savings outside of the traditional banking system that is controlled by the government and central banks gives you more control of your money and your future.

The Federal Reserve and White House have both announced plans to roll out a CBDC. Many are correct in their beliefs that the government will attempt to force the use of a programmable currency in the coming years as the state of the economy worsens.

Owning even a small investment in gold coins can provide peace of mind and financial security that is expected to come with a collapse of our current financial system in the coming years.

Practical Gold Preps

It’s growing harder for families to maintain a budget when the cost of basic groceries and gas to fill up the car increases with each passing week.

Being able to set aside enough cash savings to cover a few months of expenses is nearly impossible in the current climate of skyrocketing inflation, alongside continually rising interest rates and massive layoffs in the job market.

The importance of having a stable, trusted and reliable store of value has never been more critical than it is today.