OK, now it's getting ridiculous. Look, guys, if you want to us believe that you are HONEST, DISPASSIONATE, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS and not just a pathetic propaganda outlet running your handed-down script, maybe don't coordinate your gold-hatred coverage on the same day?! (#1421250, #1421457)
Jeezus. By the my-enemy's-enemy principle (and the FT's disastrous record...), I now believe that central banks are buying like crazy.
Also, we know Madam Tooth fairy, and she's not exactly a "pro" at, um, anything. (#980092, #987799)
Britons, we are frequently told, just don’t have it in us to risk our hard-earned cash on spicy endeavours such as speculating on stock markets. Unlike our American cousins, we are supposedly too timid, too risk averse, much happier parking our funds in safe, boring bank deposits for a measly return.
Nope, the Royal Mint says... Brits are definitely crazy.
"Earlier this week, it broke its daily record for online bullion sales. Demand for plastic tubes filled with silver Britannia coins is, it tells me, “huge”.""Earlier this week, it broke its daily record for online bullion sales. Demand for plastic tubes filled with silver Britannia coins is, it tells me, “huge”."
Both FEAR and GREED
The fear is that other more mainstream assets are losing their reliability. The US dollar, of course, is under heavy pressure almost across the board, hitting its lowest point against sterling — supposedly a crisis candidate itself — since 2021 and crumbling against the Swiss franc, one of the last refuges in the system for many.
OK, madam? (She is so ridiculous this lady, my god. How is she employed AS A FINANCIAL JOURNALIST?!)
The beauty of precious metals, unencumbered by the usual valuation metrics like cash flow, dividends or interest payments, is that you can paint your own adventure on to them and construct a kaleidoscope of reasons to buy.
Greed, and orange coin disinvited (BUHU!)
But it’s not just seeking diversity from core US assets at play here. As the rampant traffic at the Royal Mint suggests, swiftly rising prices have generated their own momentum, similar to the meme stock craze in the US in 2021. Curiously, bitcoin is not invited along to this particular dollar debasement party, with that speculation seemingly ending up here instead. A lot of this appears to be underpinned by borrowed money, or leverage.
What can break the spell? One thing would be a return to normal US financial policy — a belief in currency stability, a robust Federal Reserve, predictable regimes and prudent borrowing. An outbreak of common sense. So let’s safely assume that’s not going to happen any time soon.
archive: https://archive.md/k60F6
Feels like we just kinda plod along from one FOMO to the next. Gamestop, crypto, Bitcoin, treasury companies, precious metals...was it always like this and just the pace is increasing?
Maybe people just love number go up and all they need is some barely novel excuse to pile on.
Or these things are leaks sprung in the bottom of the boat our fiat overlords claim is seaworthy.
This. 1000% this. You really hit the 'nail on the head.' Most people apparently don't care what they speculate on, the only thing they care about is making a quick buck over a short time period.
Gold, crypto, NFTs, gamestop, AI... if it looks like "it's going up" the speculators pile on. They don't want to research, they don't want to self-custody, they don't want to learn anything, take any responsibility or do any work... just 'click to buy' and 'click to sell' so they can make a quick buck for their (fiat) bank account.
It's the biggest challenge to Bitcoin's real adoption. It's not a 'technical' challenge... it's Human stupidity and laziness, any more than 30 seconds of learning and people aren't interested.
Central banks collectively think otherwise, ever since the GFC, and much more so since 2022.
The US empire is in obvious decline to all but those under its spell of US exceptionalist delusions.
While rising markets often become bubbles due to FOMO (bitcoin is no exception there) they usually have underlying reasons for developing in the first place.
The rise of gold as the credibility of the US reaches new lows is no exception.
Time to audit Fort Knox, or is it empty ! ? !