Zimbabwe Sells $14 Million in Gold-Backed Digital Tokens

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Zimbabwe 1 oz gold coin

The Zimbabwean economy is no stranger to hyper-inflation. In 2009, the country adopted the USD as an official alternative to their local currency which helped to stabilize prices for a while.

The economy in the landlocked nation in the southern zone of Africa is based on natural resources and the country’s largest export is gold. In a sense, the economy of Zimbabwe is like a canary in a coal mine and can give investors of a sense of the direction things are heading at home.

Inflation set in again in recent years and the country’s leaders are looking to step away from the USD in favor of gold. The initial launch of the country’s gold-backed digital currency The token’s initial offering is backed by 140 kilogram gold bars that have been allocated from central bank reserves.

The offering Zimbabwe caused a ruckus with some international lenders, with the IMF issuing a statement reminiscent of the outrage posited against El Salvador when it established bitcoin as a legal currency began issuing bitcoin bonds.

A major announcement about a gold-backed basket currency is expected from the BRICS conference in South Africa in August. The BRICS gold-backed currency will offer emerging nations greater opportunities to flourish without being dependent on the dollar currency for settling cross-border transactions.

Texas Committee Passes Bill To Create 100% Gold And Silver-Backed Transactional Currencies

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Legislators in Texas are leading the charge against the Federal Reserve’s monopoly on fiat money by offering an option for people to conduct business in sound money. The principal idea reverses Gresham’s Law, where good money drives bad money out of circulation and the people can choose to decline to accept less valuable fiat money from the Fed.

The bill has the bipartisan support of 42 sponsors to create a viable gold-backed alternative to a central bank digital currency (CBDC) already in development by the Federal Reserve. 

If the bill becomes law, it would require the state comptroller to establish and provide for :

  • The issuance of gold and silver specie – A specie is a physical coin or token, typically made from a precious metal that is suitable for or customarily used as currency.
  • Require the comptroller to authorize the Texas Bullion Depository as issuer of the specie as legal tender in payment of debt and readily transfer the specie to another person
  • A mechanism to use 100% backed gold and silver digital currencies in everyday transactions
    • Use the digital currency as legal tender in payment of debt.
    • By electronic means readily transfer or assign the digital currency to another person.

Physical gold and silver backing the digital currency would be stored in a pooled account at the Texas State Bullion Depository.

Federal lawmakers from Texas are also leading the charge against the Federal Reserve issuing a consumer CBDC. In March, Senator Ted Cruz introduced legislation specifically aimed at preventing the Fed from establishing a central bank digital currency.

Federal Reserve and the Current Board of Governors

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The Federal Reserve system is comprised of 12 Reserve Banks that were established following the outbreak of World War I in 1914.

Each of the twelve national reserve bank regions were chosen following a Congress sponsored selection committee called the Reserve Bank Organizational Committee.

After the districts were defined, each of the Federal Reserve Bank’s self organized amongst the regional banks, with local banks all contributing to the initial reserves from customer deposits.

The Board of Governors, appointed by the President of the United States is responsible for supervision of reserve banks and regulating certain financial institutions and activities.

The first President of the New York Fed was Benjamin Strong Jr. who had been persuaded by JP Morgan to take the job.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is also the exclusive fiscal agent of the US Treasury and is responsible for managing government debt by raising money through auctions of marketable Treasury securities (bonds) and through authorized government buybacks. It is also the holder of the General Account for the Treasury, where the Federal Government receives all direct revenue and pays nearly all federal expenses.

It also handles exchange rate management, swapping dollars with foreign currencies under the Treasury’s direction.

The Bank of New York owns and operates a bullion depository vault that is built on bedrock some eighty feet below the streets of Manhattan. As of 2019, the bullion depository held roughly 5,100 metric tons of gold, the large majority being held as the custodian of the reserves of thirty-six central banks.

Current Board of Governors

  • Jerome H. Powell, Chair – Powell was nominated by Donald Trump to serve as the chair of the Federal Reserve, replacing current Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen at the helm of the central bank.
  • Michael S. Barr, Vice Chair for Supervision – Barr was nominated by Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate in 2022.
  • Michelle W. Bowman – In 2018, Bowman was nominated by Trump and approved by the Senate to serve a 14-year term on the Board of Governors, occupying the seat that represents community banks.
  • Lisa D. Cook – Cook is a Biden nominee that began serving on the Board in May 2022.
  • Philip N. Jefferson – Jefferson is a Biden nominee that began serving on the Board in May 2022.
  • Christopher J. Waller – Waller was nominated by Trump and received the approval of Congress in 2019.

Zimbabwe to Launch Gold-Backed Digital Currency

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central bank digital currency

Zimbabwe has had a long history of economic instability. From 2004 until 2009 the country experienced five years of hyperinflation.

During the period of hyperinflation the country had to halt the exchange of local currency to dollars due to a meteoric rise in prices.

In early 2009, the government had abandoned the local currency, instead favoring the US dollar for all official transactions.

By 2014, there were eight legal foreign currencies being used for day-to-day transactions throughout the country.

Almost ten years later, the economy is Zimbabwe is still in shambles. The Zimbabwe dollar was reintroduced in 2019. Periods of high inflation quickly followed.

In an attempt to curb inflation last year, government leaders began to issue gold coins to try to earn the trust of investors with a store of value.

The latest announcement from the African nation says that the central bank will begin to issue a digital token that is backed by gold.

The gold-backed digital is an attempt by the country’s central bank to provide a trusted hedge against the volatility of its local currency.

The country’s central bank reports holding just 350 kg of gold bars among its reserves and estimates that it will need $100 million dollars to support the digital gold token.

Royalties from the mining industry exceed $300 million dollars per year.

Preparing for the Next Dollar Crisis

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The American dollar system is broken. All of the major swings in the economy over the last few years that have been driven by political and policy-based initiatives have led to a decline in global trust of the American dollar. The ongoing banking crisis makes it more evident.

The breakneck pace at which the global banking system is becoming multipolar is supported by central banks continuing their gold stacking efforts into first quarter.

JP Morgan Chase is among the largest banks in the world. CEO Jamie Dimon made headlines last year with dire warnings about the economy.

In March of this year, JP Morgan Lead Strategist Marko Kolanovic suggested that as investors lose confidence the possibility of a Minsky moment in the markets could lead to a sudden crash in across some sectors.

Reports from the IMF and World Gold Council show the largest purchases in the first two months were Singapore (51.4 tonnes), Turkey (45.5 tonnes), China (39.8 tonnes), Russia (31.1 tonnes) and India (2.8 tonnes). 

Very few countries have reported a reduction in their central bank gold holdings. However, many reports show various countries have increased their yuan currency holdings.

Some current trends suggest the Chinese yuan is gaining a foothold because of some recent lucrative trade deals, such as those with Saudi Arabia and Brazil.

Reports from the Russian government have made the allusion that the basket currency will provide support for countries that may be rich in natural resources and could include fertile soil, rare earth elements, and of course, precious metals including gold, silver and platinum.

Countries from across the southern hemisphere are expressing interest in joining the trade agreements outside of the dollar currency. The BRICS treaty countries are purportedly preparing for the announcement of a commodity based basket currency in South Africa at their next conference in August.

The G7 was long considered the global financial powerhouse of countries that set many of our current standards since 1975. Data reported in March shows that the BRICS nations combined have overtaken the G7 in GDP, with trend lines suggesting that separation could continue through 2030.

Various reports in recent weeks have suggested that the upcoming FedNow service expected to launch this summer is the first step in a Fed role of out a nationwide CDBC. Of course, the Fed has responded to the rumors with an announcement that the payment system is not a digital currency.

The IMF, a cartel controlled by member banks, has announced that they’ve received unprecedented interest from their member central banks with more than 30 countries asking for help fast-tracking CBDC implementations.

A private organization that advocates on behalf of the IMF called the DMCA recently announced their own CBDC, seemingly backed by the banking cartel.

The Universal Monetary Unit (UMU), or Unicoin that is represented with the ANSI Character, Ü. The IMF says that it can be used to transact in any legal tender settlement currency. It is also fully programmable and can be used to enforce regulations dealing with the international banking system.

The press release claims that it is legally a money commodity but does not specify where it is legal.

The DMCA hopes that central banks will adopt its Unicoin standard when implementing their own national digital currency initiatives.

More investors are beginning to view investing in precious metals as a way to preserve their money for the coming financial hurricane.

Wage growth has tumbled, thousands have been laid off, unemployment levels have started to rise and we are seeing more signs that we are headed for a major recession.

Gold prices continue chasing towards record highs with spot price closing the week at $2,005 per ounce. Silver spot price closed at $25.43 per troy ounce.

Having a diverse mix of gold and silver in your portfolio can offer some financial protection against uncertainty in other markets.

Having a stack at home also helps you to gain the financial independence to be your own bank.

Premiums at online precious metals retailers vary. Whether you’re looking to stack fractional gold, 10 oz silver bars or other physical bullion investments, FindBullionPrices.com can help you find the best deals.

Egypt Mints First Gold Ingot from Domestic Mines

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The tuts and kings that ruled Ancient Egyptian Civilizations were adorned with lavish jewelry, art and even clothing made from gold.

Gold is once again being actively mined in Egypt. In January, the government announced that the first standard gold bar had been released to the market made entirely from domestically mined gold ore.

The Igat mine in the Eastern Desert was discovered in June 2020 is estimated to contain roughly 1.3 million ounces, or about 36,000 gold kilos.

Other mines discovered in the same region include the El Sukari mine, which is estimated to contain 12 million troy ounces of gold.

Egyptian gold burial sandals and toe caps, circa 1479–1425 BCE. (Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

“Extracting gold from the Sukari mine contributes to raising the strategic gold reserves to 300 tons, and this contributes to raising the value of the local currency,” said Nagy Farag, Adviser to the Minister of Supply and Internal Trade for Gold Industry Affairs during an interview with Sada al-Balad TV channel. 

Faraq told Nile News Channel in February, that the Jebel Ikat mine has the capactity to produce about 200 kilos of gold per month. The gold is being used replenish the Central Bank’s gold reserves and is strengthening the Egyptian pound and the national economy.

The Central Bank of Egypt’s reserves now hold more than 125 tons of gold bullion.

The mines in Egypt’s Eastern Desert represent an incredible source of income for the country amidst growing interest in joining the BRICS treaty. The country has been actively expanding the exploration of mineral deposits in other regions.

The government is expected to invest roughly $1 billion into the country’s mining industry by 2030.

The country’s first certified gold refinery opened in December 2020 in the Marsa Alam area of the Eastern Desert, marking a significant achievement in maximizing the supply chain and providing more local jobs.

The earliest gold coin discovered in Egypt dates back to 360 B.C. The gold stater coin was introduced as a means of payment to Roman mercenaries. The coin’s specifications were modeled after the Persian daric standard, which contained 8.4 grams of gold.

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

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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.

Saudi Arabia Taking Active Steps to End Petrodollar Dominance

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Saudi Arabia is showing the world that it is taking active steps to end the dollar’s hegemony across the global economy through a multitude of political and diplomatic moves and financial investments.

Saudi Aramco, officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Group or simply referred to as Aramco, has announced the investment of more than $10 billion dollars to finance the construction of a new refinery and petrochemical complex. The construction is expected to take three years and when finished it will have the capacity to produce 300,000 barrels of oil per day.

The world’s largest oil exporting country has also opened dialog about joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a regional trade and security organization dominated by Russia and China.

In recent months, many more countries have expressed interest in joining the BRICS trade organization, which largely represents the global south in an effort to provide open trade and financial empowerment to developing nations.

CNBC reports that much of the rush to dump the dollar is largely seen as repercussions of the weaponization of the dollar to suit the foreign policy whims of the Biden administration, citing the financial sanctions imposed by the G7 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the decades of financial hardship placed on the people of Venezuela.

Central Banks continue to diversifying assets and dumping Treasury bonds and other dollar based assets in favor of commodities and growing currencies like the yuan. Globally, goods and services sold in dollars are going to get more expensive as the yuan and BRICS agreement picks up steam.

As the impact of the ongoing banking crisis begins to be felt at home, many Americans are shifting their priorities to protect their financial assets. This means we will continue to see a rapid shift of excess dollars into hard assets like gold, silver, land, ammunition and firearms and food in the coming months as more people prepare for further economic hardship.

COMEX silver and gold inventories are dropping as insiders ramp up the draining of physical precious metals from the vaults.

Some market analysts are predicting inflationary conditions to get worse as devaluing of fiat dollars accelerates following the Saudi decision to begin selling oil in other currencies. This is likely to lead to a ripple effect that will cascade to many other countries that rely on the dollar for settlement of global trade.

Last October, CEO of JP Morgan Chase Jamie Dimon, the nation’s largest bank, warned investors that the country is heading into a recession this year that will be far worse than any in recent memory.

In December, he reiterated his warning, adding that the main risks to the economy may come from abroad, citing threats to the fracturing supply chain, high inflation, rising prices of commodities and the ongoing proxy war with Russia.

Last year, numerous executives and precious metals traders were convicted from JP Morgan Chase, Deutsche Bank and other large institutions in a long-term, ongoing price manipulation scheme that was intended to trick the markets and investors into wrongly believing that price movements in the metals markets were organic.

JP Morgan Chase, often cited as to be too big to fail, is reportedly holding massive gold derivative short positions that are potentially greater than the bank’s total assets. If the price of gold continues to rise, JPM may be forced into a situation in which they will need additional leverage to cover the shorts.

Price manipulation, corruption and unfair representation in the LBMA and other G7 controlled commodities market were just some of the many grievances voiced by Russia last year during the announcement of the Moscow World Standard.

Casual investors are beginning to see that one of the best ways to protect their long-term financial assets from the Federal Reserve imposing a consumer CBDC is to diversify their cash holdings and other liquid assets into silver and gold bullion.

Mainstream media has been reporting on the rapid dollarization occurring with varying attempts to denounce genuine fears as a conspiracy theory.

The Chinese Renminbi or yuan is the currency that would benefit most from removing the dollar as the reserve currency.

JPM Now Sole Custodian of SLV ETF Holdings

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iShares Silver Trust (SLV) is a bullion backed electronically traded fund that seeks to reflect the performance of the price of silver. The fund originated in 2006 and holds physical silver bars held in custodial vaults.

In a statement released recently from JP Morgan, they currently hold 459,485,125.800 troy ounces of fine silver on behalf of the silver trust.

According to recent shareholder reports from Blackrock, the fund is backed by 458,887,710.00 troy ounces of silver which is 597,415.8 less than what is reported by JPM.

That amount is divided between three of JP Morgan Chase’s vault location in London and New York.

Earlier records have shown that the custody of the silver bars that back the SLV investment trust were spread out across various companies and vaulting locations for diversity of holdings.

Precious metals investors frequently buy shares in the SLV as a way to hedge other investments that are typically thought to be riskier endeavors. By moving all of the silver bars into the possession of a single custodian, the trust may be exposed to some additional risk.

The best way to use precious metals as a hedge is to buy physical gold and silver and store it in your home where you know it will be safe, secure and there when you need it most. As the saying goes, if you don’t hold it, you don’t own it.

Silver futures have been trading down roughly 3% since the start of the year.

Meanwhile, central banks continue stockpiling gold during the first few months of the year as more nations around the world are trying to join the BRICS treaty while oil is now trading in currencies other than the dollar.

China bought up an additional 15 tons of gold in January bringing their total central bank holdings to over 2,025 tons, according to reports from gold.org.

With more and more pressure from climate change advocates on US industries to reduce fossil fuel dependence, Saudi Arabia is expecting China and India to become the largest buyers of Middle East oil.

Over the last two decades, a greenwashing propaganda campaign has been thrust upon the country to label the use of fossil fuels as the leading cause of pollution and worldwide climate change.

In recent years, the rhetoric is amplified by activist infiltration of hedge funds and other large financial institutions under the guise of the ESG movement.

As dedollarization continues throughout the world, financial experts remain bullish that precious metals will remain the basis for much of world trade and gold will play a large role in the BRICS currency basket.

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.