Watch: Gold, Collateral, and the Shift East

30 minutes

The gold market has spent the last several weeks digesting a sharp correction, a tentative Middle East ceasefire, and a more hawkish tone from the Federal Reserve. Yet beneath the day-to-day price action, a much larger story continues to unfold.

In this interview with Mining.com, I discuss why I believe the most important development in the precious metals market is not today’s gold price, but the ongoing transformation of the global financial system’s collateral structure. Central banks continue to accumulate gold at historically strong rates, gold storage and clearing infrastructure is increasingly moving toward Asia, and questions surrounding reserve assets have become more important since the freezing of Russian reserves in 2022.

We also explore:

• Why central bank gold demand remains the dominant force in the market.

• Whether the recent correction changes the long-term outlook for gold.

• Why I believe gold’s role as collateral may ultimately matter more than its role as money.

• The growing importance of Singapore as a global gold hub.

• What would need to happen for gold to compete more directly with U.S. Treasuries as a reserve asset.

• Why silver could play a larger role in the evolving collateral landscape.

• The outlook for mining stocks after a difficult few months.

• Key themes from my new book, As Good As Gold: The Return of Real Money.

One point I continue to emphasize is that investors spend enormous amounts of time debating currencies, exchange rates, and central bank policy while paying far less attention to the assets that underpin the financial system itself.

As I note during the interview:

“Money gets all the attention, but collateral does all the work.”

Whether you agree with that thesis or not, understanding how collateral functions within the global financial system may become increasingly important as central banks diversify reserves, new clearing hubs emerge, and the balance of pricing power in precious metals continues to migrate eastward.

I hope you enjoy the conversation.

— Vincent Lanci

Available now: The Collateral Project: As Good As Gold – The Return of Real Money.