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Texas Bill Proposes Gold-Backed Digital Currency

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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.

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Two More Wall St Traders Sentenced In Precious Metals Price Manipulation

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This week, the Department of Justice announced the sentences of two additional Wall St traders in a decades long price fixing scheme to manipulate the price of precious metals.

According to court documents, the defendants, Edward Bases, 61, of New Canaan, Connecticut, a former senior trader who worked at both Deutsche Bank and Bank of America in New York and the second trader, John Pacilio, 59, of New York, who worked as a senior trader at Bank of America and Morgan Stanley in New York, were both sentenced to one year plus one day in prison.

Both traders manipulated precious metals market prices up or down by placing large “spoof” orders in the precious metals futures markets that they never intended to fill. The convictions show that they intentionally manipulate prices for their own gain and for the banks’ gain.

The men defrauded other traders on both the Commodity Exchange Inc. (COMEX) and the New York Mercantile Exchange Inc. (NYMEX), both of which are operated by the CME Group Inc.

Both men were convicted at trial in August 2021 of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and multiple counts of wire fraud affecting a financial institution. Pacilio was also convicted of commodities fraud.

Each were sentenced to one year and one day in prison.

The fake orders that these traders performed intended to induce other traders to buy or sell at prices, quantities and times that they otherwise would not have traded by creating the false appearance of supply and demand. At times, the traders would place hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of orders that they had no intention of fulfilling.

These convictions stem from a broader, long-lasting investigation by the SEC and FBI into commodities market manipulation practices by Wall Street banks and brokerage trading firms.

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Preparing for the Impending CBDC Crisis

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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.

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Perth Mint Being Investigated for Money Laundering

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The financial crimes team in Australia started their investigation into money laundering claims at the Perth Mint in August 2022.

One part of the expansive government mint operates as a custodial depository for individual and institutional investors.

Using a mobile app called GoldPass, anyone can trade gold and silver digital certificates that are backed by physical metals stored in its central bank-grade vaults.

Last year, the Mint reported that it held nearly $6 billion worth of gold and silver bullion on behalf of customers worldwide.

The Mint is accused of failing to properly scrutinize customers, including what some news outlets in Australia are framing as “notorious underworld figures”.

The top government watchdog organization, AUSTRAC, has determined that this could allow suspicious trading activity on the platform and believes that the business breached one of the criminal provisions of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act, by running an unregistered remittance business.

The Australia law loosely defines a remitter as an organization “that moves money or property on behalf of a client.”

“Anonymous accounts in tax havens may also have allowed high-risk individuals to hide the proceeds of crime, by holding gold in the Perth Mint’s vault.”

AUSTRAC ordered an audit of the Perth Mint operations by an external auditor, requiring a full report on the legal compliance of the organization.

News reports from Australia suggest that the government has ZERO proof of wrongdoing by the Mint, other than the auditors noting two missing “key program elements” related to compliance with the law which represent a “greater risk of non-compliance, and money laundering or terrorist financing activity.”

However, the allegations suggest that this is a government witch-hunt pursuant to violate the privacy rights of anyone holding Perth gold certificates.

The Perth Mint has been the source of other scandals in recent years, such as buying gold from a convicted murderer from Papua New Guinea and holding up to $100 million in assets on behalf of customers of Euro Pacific Bank of Puerto Rico, which saw its assets seized by financial regulators last year.

The government suggests that the mint failed its due-diligence requirements on Euro-Pacific customers and suggests the possibility the refiner sold or may be the custodian of precious metal holdings of “tax cheats, kleptocrats and foreign criminals.”

Euro Pacific Bank, owned by economist Peter Schiff, has been under scrutiny by financial regulators worldwide for being a safe-haven for criminal activity. In February, police in the UK arrested two men suspected of using Euro Pacific accounts to launder money to fund purchases of high value assets such as luxury watches, jewelry and designer handbags and clothing.

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Transitioning to Gold Backed Digital Currencies for Trade Settlements

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The push toward dedollarization that began after the 2008 financial crisis has taken hold in recent years.

Many central bank are preparing for the elimination of the dollar from international trade settlements in favor of local currencies and are preparing by stocking up on gold and other commodities.

Development of the BRICS+ basket currency began more than ten years, with reforming the global finance system at the top of the plan.

The EuroAsia alliance and the push for the Moscow World Standard, a gold market that is outside of the manipulation from the corrupt Western banking elite is seen as a key driver for adoption of a basket currency.

This week, the Iraqi central bank announced they are dropping the dollar and switching to the Yuan for their trade with China after the US Treasury forced stricter SWIFT transfer rules last year.

While the intent of the tighter rules was to curtail money laundering and to prevent the siphoning of dollars to heavily sanctioned countries. It is yet another political move that appears to have backfired.

Jamie Dimon seems to have lost faith in the Federal Reserve. During a recent interview with CNBC, the JP Morgan Chase CEO said that he believes the Fed has lost control of inflation, while suggesting that it is still possible to have a “soft landing” of the economy.

While the stock market appears to be having a fragile recovery since the market bottom at the beginning of the pandemic lockdowns, the housing market has completely collapsed in record time.

As the rest of the world begins to transition to a gold-backed CBDC for international trade, the risk of out of control inflation to continue remains high and the chances of a soft landing for the economy is increasingly low.

The Federal Reserve has been piloting a number of different CBDC projects in recent months while recent legislation in Congress has been introduced to restrict the central bank from issuing any digital currencies to individuals.

In the long term, gold and silver preserve wealth and spending power while central bankers devalue fiat currency.

Even if the Fed is able to reduce inflation without destroying other sectors of the economy, the long term goal is to devalue the dollar by 2% annually with the inflation targets.

The global economy is shifting back towards some form of a gold standard. Everyone should be buying some physical gold and silver to have at home or in a secure location to be prepared for whatever happens this year.

The US Treasury continues to hold the largest gold bullion reserves. The January 31 report from shows 258,641,878.085 troy ounces, or roughly 8082.56 tons. According to some reports, 2,665 tons seized from citizens by FDR during the depression.

Storing physical gold and silver at home alongside firearms and other valuables is more common than you might think. If you don’t hold it, you don’t own it. Physical metals avoids counter-party risk.

Last year, the US Mint sold 980,000 troy ounces of gold eagle coins, a substantial drop from the 1,252,500 ounces that were sold in 2021.

Though 2022 saw an increase in sales of US Mint Gold Buffalo coins by nearly 60,000 troy ounces which shows that some gold bugs have been turning to .9999 fine gold.

Premiums on current year 1 oz Gold Eagle coins have fallen with online dealer premiums as low as 4.6% of gold spot price, and premiums on random year 1 oz Gold Buffalos are slightly higher from 5.14%.

Gold Eagles are minted from a 90% pure gold that is alloyed with small amounts of copper and silver. The addition of silver helps to gives these coins their unique color and luster.

Gold Buffalos are minted from .9999 pure 24k gold. The coins are beautifully sculpted and minted from gold that is refined from US mines.

Both coins each contain one troy ounce of pure gold.

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Gold’s Return to the Economy

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Globally, the dollar has been used as a reserve currency by central banks. Since the 1970s, the petrodollar has been utilized for the trade of oil and energy.

Over the last two decades, elected officials in Washington have weaponized the dollar for political purposes.

In recent years, central banks have been dumping the dollar for gold.

BRICS countries have grown frustrated with the dollar’s hegemony in the global market. In 2022, Russia launched the Moscow World Standard to compete with the LBMA, citing ongoing corruption, price manipulation and enforcing trading practices rooted in nepotism and exploitation of developing countries.

The economic sanctions against Russia and the decades of sanctions against Venezuela are two examples of recent weaponization of the dollar that has raised skepticism of some trading partners outside of the European Union.

Russia, and trading partners Venezuela and Peru, account for 62% controlling stake of the world gold bullion.

Part of the western sanctions against Russia forced the LBMA to reject six of Russia’s key Good Delivery refineries from the exchange. The Moscow World Standard is positioning itself as an open alternative to the LBMA.

Many have accused the LBMA and other western countries of manipulating and suppressing the price of gold and other commodities by pushing the practice of trading in paper derivatives. The Moscow World Standard prices gold in ruble and bans the trading of paper derivatives and encourages new price discovery which could push the price of gold to over $2,500 an ounce.

Some see the rise in demand by central banks buying gold as a signal that countries that have been bullied by Western economic policies as being eager for an alternative system that will create a more equitable system and fairer monetary standard.

The Moscow World Standard was developed by the Eurasian Economic Commission, a coalition of countries that include: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic and the Russian Federation.

Western sanctions against Russia have led some countries to reconsider bilateral trade in non-dollar currencies for the first time in decades. China, Russia, India and Iran already have an ongoing effort to establish alternative payment and settlement systems that parallel the SWIFT banking network. Iraq has reportedly begun paying for imports in the yuan, while China has been encouraging use of it’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS).

China quickly became Saudi Arabia’s largest trading parter, with more than 1.76 million barrels of crude oil per day and the Shanghai Petroleum and National Gas Exchange will be enabled to handle the renminbi (RMB) for settling oil and natural gas trades which is adding to the decline of the dollar hegemony.

Long term, the BRICS+ countries are creating competition in the global marketplace for raw materials and commodities that is attempting to break the chains of the LBMA and similar price control organizations.

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Tokenizing Gold Bullion Bars with Blockchain Technology

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cbdc blockchain for tracking gold bars

Public trust in government central banks and global banks continues to erode as the world economy staggers to recover from issues caused by the pandemic response.

Many central banks have begun working on CBDC projects as a means of implementing programmable and controllable currencies even though popular opinion opposes the implementation of the G7, WEF and BIS recommendations, further eroding trust in the bankers who have a long history of corruption.

One way that blockchain ledger technology can help enable public trust in central banks, governments and global banks is by providing a means of transparency into the asset being held on behalf of customers.

The Dubai Multi Commodities Center recently announced a partnership with Comtech Gold to create TradeFlow warrants using Comtech Gold Tokens (CGO) based on customers depositing gold in approved vaults.

Comtech Gold is built on the XDC blockchain network with each contract on the network being represented with one gram of pure physical gold.

The DMCC TradeFlow project is already backed by 122 kilo gold bars.

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NY Federal reserve launches CBDC “trial” on the heels of FTX collapse

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central bank digital currency

Several weeks ago, the New York Federal Reserve quietly launched a 12 week long trial of a CBDC “digital dollar” pilot program in partnership with global banking giants like Citigroup Inc, HSBC Holdings Plc, Mastercard Inc and Wells Fargo & Co.

The NYFR describes the project as an attempt to test the feasibility of using blockchain tokens and distributed ledger technology as a mechanism for settlement of liabilities.

This is one of many software and technology projects that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has been developing through their New York Innovation Center.

The Biden administration has been attempting to take control over the digital assets markets through a combination of Executive Orders and enforcement with the hiring of 70,000 new IRS agents.

On March 9, 2022, Biden signed Executive Order 14143, titled “Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets”.

Government agencies have been funding research projects at private institutions aimed at implementing a fully programmable digital currency such as those endorsed by the G7 and World Economic Forum (WEF).

What is the Federal Reserve New York Innovation Center?
The Federal Reserve Innovation Center is a group within the bank who’s mission is to collaborate on technology research, experimentation and prototyping with banking regulators, the banking industry, academia and international central banks, the Federal Reserve System, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub, academia, and the private sector through technical research, experimentation, and prototyping.

The team is chartered to generated insights into high-value central bank-related opportunities, enabling stakeholders and the central bank community to enhance the functioning of the global financial system.

Much of the G7 are following recommendations for CBDC systems endorsed by the WEF that are designed to be centrally controllable and programmable which is the opposite of having a decentralized blockchain.

Back in 2019, the General Manager of the International Bank of Settlements openly spoke about their intent to use CBDC to control which products citizens will be allowed to spend their digital dollars.

The Federal Reserve New York Innovation Center is likely following suggestions endorsed and suggested by the WEF, IBS, G7 and other organizations that have no absolutely no legal authority over the US economy or any other economy.

According to data provided by CBDCTracker.org, more than 60 countries are currently researching or launching pilot programs using CDBC blockchain ledger technology.

Many of the political rank and file in Congress reportedly received donations from FTX and affiliated crypto organizations in the run up to the mid-term elections.


Republicans in Congress have already announced their intent to hold hearings on the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange and into influence peddling by the White House.

In the current bankruptcy petition, the company discloses that it owes its top 50 creditors a total of $3.1 billion dollars but has yet to publicly disclose the list of names.

Shortly after signing EO 14143, former US President Bill Clinton and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair were both guest speakers at the Crypto Bahamas Conference.


Private Gold Ownership in the United States

During the pandemic the US Mint sold more ounces of gold, silver and platinum coins than ever before.

As a result of the pandemic, private ownership of gold and silver is now the highest it has been since Roosevelt confiscated gold in 1933.

Looking at only cumulative bullion sales of the American Gold Eagle coin series, the US Mint has sold roughly 45.5 million troy ounces of gold eagles from 1986 until 2021.

So far in 2022, it’s reported that the US Mint has sold roughly 976,000 ounces of gold coins as of November.

There have been a variety of problems reported by the US Mint in recent years related to supply chain and planchets that have effected the production of both Gold and Silver bullion coins.

Many investors have been fleeing from the stock and crypto markets due to ongoing inflation, mass layoffs, rising interest rates and fears of a recession or worse. Millions of Americans continue to lose faith in the US economy as millions face layoffs the war in Ukraine drags on without any end in sight.

Buyers demand low premiums on gold and silver. Investors, preppers and many every day Americans continue to search for a safe haven investment as some lobby for a return to a gold-standard economy.

As of March 5 2021, the US Mint stores 147.3 million troy ounces of gold at Fort Knox, down from the highest highest historic gold holdings of 649.6 million ounces in December 31, 1941.

According to the US Mint more than 512.3 million troy ounces of gold has been removed from the Fort Knox Gold Repository since 1941.

According to weekly published reports by the Federal Reserve, roughly 20 million troy ounces is stored in the New York Federal Reserve system.

Monthly Gold Report data provided by the Department of Treasury shows 261,498,926.2 million troy ounces in their inventory, with roughly 147.6 million ounces being held in Fort Knox, 43.8 million in Denver, CO and 54.0 million in West Point, NY. The DoT reports gold holdings at the Federal Reserve to be around 13.5 million ounces.

Between 1941 and 2022, the Department of Treasury seems to have a discrepancy of roughly 388 million troy ounces of gold.

Maybe someone should be asking where did all the gold that was removed from Fort Knox go?

Blockchain Backed Gold Ownership

Many central banks that increased their gold holdings during the pandemic, including Russia, China and other BRICS nations are experimenting with blockchain technology and how it may be able to help their economy.

Bitcoin and other decentralized blockchain technologies are a perfect use case to establish trust amongst sovereign central banks and in developing and emerging nations to validate their gold, other precious metals and minerals holdings to allow for fair participation in world trade and wealth building.

The first mined Bitcoin’s Genesis block contains an encrypted message attached to the blockchain that reads, “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.” 

Cryptocurrency technology was created in response to the crash of the financial markets in 2008.

The purpose behind the bitcoin, cryptocurrency and blockchain movements have evolved over the last decade.

Most importantly, these technologies can enable trust for the banking and financial system that has been plagued by corruption and mistrust since Roosevelt helped the bankers at the Federal Reserve steal the gold from the American public in 1933.

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A New Global Gold Standard?

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Gold has been an instrumental component of the economy since before the American Revolution.

Our founding fathers had the forethought to include gold and silver coins in the Constitution.

A metallic standard was a central foundation for the economy in the United States based on gold and silver coins.

The US Mint was established on April 6, 1792, prior to the Declaration of Independence.

Recently, legislation has been introduced into the House of Representatives that is intended to move the United States back towards a gold-standard.

The sponsor of the bill, Representative Alex Mooney (R-WV), has stated that the purpose of the Bill is to give greater visibility of the spending by politicians in Washington.

Jerome Powell has said that gold bullion has no purpose in the US economy. The rest of the world is still remembers the Nixon Shock and other major events in the global commodities markets caused by US foreign policy.

Gold has been a core, instrumental component of the global economy, politics and international trade for thousands of years.

With the Moscow World Standard posited to compete with the LBMA, COMEX, Shanghai and other global trading markets.

* gold.org

Many speculate that Moscow is trying to position itself as an economic leader in the global economy. Earlier this year, the Moscow World Standard was announced by the Russian Finance Ministry as an open and fair competitor to the LBMA.

Moscow hopes that many of the BRICS nations and developing nations that are abundant in natural resources have opportunities to trade more fairly in global markets.

Minerals like cobalt, lithium, manganese, nickel and other rare earth minerals that are necessary for the production of batteries for electric cars, houses and other future energy needs. Silver is used in the manufacturing of solar panels and other electrical components.

All of these natural resources are also part of a national initiative to secure resources necessary to build new supply chains for the reemergence of high-tech and semi-conductor manufacturing on American soil.

An emerging Global Gold Standard built on Blockchain Auditing

Outside of the US, private gold ownership continues to grow, particularly amongst Asian markets including China and India.

Russia responded to economic sanctions by starting a program to buy gold from citizens in exchange for rubles and began requiring payment for oil, natural gas and other energy needs in Rubles as a way to stabilize the Russian economy following the invasion of Ukraine.

Bloomberg reports that at least 4 accounts in Rubles have been opened with Gazprom PJSC.

The government of Zimbabwe began to issue gold coins as currency as a way to stabilize their economy following decades of inflation due to corruption.

Many developing nations in Africa, Central and South America and Asia are rich and abundant with natural resources.

Having direct access to global markets for selling commodities such as lithium, cobalt and other minerals is of interest to leaders and businesses of many nations, some of which may be looking to renegotiate contracts with global conglomerates as a way to better leverage their local resources to rebuild their local economies following the pandemic.

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Moscow World Standard Driven by Corruption in the LBMA

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Gold reserves are a key component of central banking and are pivotal to the backing of and supporting a country’s currency, both for its domestic economy and foreign trade.


For decades, Russia has been increasing their gold reserves and central bank holdings.

The reported amounts of gold held in reserves have varied depending on the source.

The amount of gold actually held inside Fort Knox has been question asked by Congress many times. The answer is always the same. That’s classified.


Recent economic sanctions against Russia includes a ban from participating in the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA),  a global clearinghouse and trading association for large bullion transactions.


As early response to the economic war waged by the NATO allies, Russia began a program to buy gold from citizens in exchange for Rubles, effectively returning to a partial gold-standard.

The gold for Rubles program also helped to stabilize the value of the Russian Ruble in the international currency and exchange markets like FOREX.

The latest strategic move by Russia in the fight against the economic sanctions, Russia’s Finance Minister has announced that they will introduce a new “Moscow World Standard” as a new alternative to the LBMA.

According to Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, the Moscow World Standard is an attempt to stabilize and normalize the functioning of the precious metals industry.

Russia has positioned the new Moscow World Standard as an alternative to the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) whose credibility in the eyes of the world leaders has been rocked in recent years due to a number of scandals involving price manipulation.

The most recent scandal involves the criminal conviction of Michael Nowak, a prominent LBMA Board member who was outsted from his role with the LBMA following his arrest in 2019.

Nowak was also a top executive at JP Morgan Chase.

In his leadership role as the Managing Director of the Precious Metals Trading Desk, a key position overseeing global trading operations which led to billions in profits to both JP Morgan Chase’s top and bottom lines.

Nowak was charged under the RICO Act. The government had enough hard evidence to support a case that Nowak was the kingpin in charge of a wide-spread criminal organization operating inside the JP Morgan Chase for almost a decade.

Numerous other executives from inside the JP Morgan Chase Precious Metals Group have also been convicted or have pled guilty for their roles and received reduced sentences in exchange for their testimony against the others.

Separate, but Related criminal investigations against other bullion trading banks and trading practices have led to guilty pleas and massive fines in recent years.

Ample evidence exists to support the Russian position that the LBMA and members of the organization have been involved in widespread fraud, price manipulation and exploitation at all levels. The reality is that this type of corruption can and does have long-term effects on the ebbs and flows of the economies in many smaller countries where precious metals are mined, but also some of the other elements such as Lithium, Cobalt and Magnesium which are considered essential and “critical elements” for current battery technology.

Many of the smaller BRICS countries already look to China and Russia for guidance, leadership and assistance on many financial policy decisions due to long-standing and established trading relationships and other international treaties that exclude many NATO countries. As many leaders from these countries have likely encountered difficulties when working within the confines of the system set forth by the LBMA Board of Directors.

Russia has been suggesting greater transparency to some degree for leaders of BRICS nations, many of whom have significant mining operations that are controlled through large private banks and companies affiliated with the LBMA.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/jp-morgan-gold-trading-boss-former-lbma-board-member-found-guilty-us-jury
https://www.bullionstar.com/blogs/ronan-manly/lbma-board-member-jp-morgan-managing-director-charged-with-rigging-precious-metals/

https://www.sprottmoney.com/blog/The-Convicted-Criminals-of-JP-Morgan-Craig-Hemke-August-16-2022