Market Sentiment shifting

Another risk factor with crypto

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) hit a record high of $60,000 on Saturday, nearly doubling in value this year, as the Beeple NFT sale continued to draw attention to the cryptocurrency, as well as more institutional investment. Prices then pulled back 7% to the $56,000 level on reports that India would propose a law banning cryptos, giving holders of the virtual assets up to six months to liquidate. The bill, one of the world's strictest policies against cryptocurrencies, would criminalize everything from possession, issuance and mining to trading and transferring crypto assets.

Why is India doing this? It's not the first nation to take action against Bitcoin, with similar bans or restrictions seen in countries like China, Pakistan, Russia, Bolivia, North Macedonia and Morocco. There are concerns that Bitcoin's decentralized system will make it more complicated for central banks to create their own CBDCs (central bank digital currencies), as well as worries that cryptos could be used to finance illicit activities. CBDCs are a promising tool that will allow central banks to have real-time data about their economies, offering the ability to track money flows, spending and savings data and what sectors are suffering or doing well. Leaving privacy concerns aside, a central bank could be more informed on monetary policy when armed with that information, while the government could possibly link future stimulus payments, universal basic income or fiscal policy to CBDCs.

Many Americans are unaware that it was illegal to own gold from 1934 to 1974, though the prohibitions were relaxed starting in 1964. A U.S. citizen couldn't own or trade gold anywhere in the world, with exceptions for some jewelry and collector's coins, as the federal government and banks shored up their financial soundness.

I subscribe to Jim Richards newsletter. I have followed Harry Dent and read a few of his books. This debate is worth watching and maybe a good past time for part of the weekend

Global AUM now stands at 3,765t, just 4% shy of the intra-month record set in early November 2020

Following record-setting inflows in the first 10 months of 2020, flows turned negative in November and December, before reversing course again in the first month of 2021
Investment demand for gold via ETFs remains strong and a primary driver of overall gold demand
Asian gold ETFs holdings have grown by more than 50% over the past 12 months
Low-cost gold-backed ETFs grew meaningfully during 2020, and generally continued to see inflows in January

Bitcoin and digital currencies really after the gold investors.

Interesting article from GATA on Central Banks, 7 years ago, but still relevant

Banksters

JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) is poised to pay almost $1B, in what would be a record penalty for an investigation into so-called spoofing of metals futures and Treasury securities, Bloomberg reports. It's also expected that JPMorgan will admit to wrongdoing, an admission many companies generally avoid when settling charges that they violated securities laws. Spoofing usually entails flooding derivatives markets with orders that traders don't intend to execute to deceive others into moving prices in a desired direction.

Dethroned Dollar Is Making Waves Across Markets, in Five Charts

www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-...rkets-in-five-charts

For the first time, Buffet buys into gold and now a 2nd pension fund, the shift is coming with a slow start but never the less

Last week, Ohio's $16 billion Police & Fire Pension Fund approved a 5% allocation to the monetary metal. This relatively small gold allocation provides at least some measure of portfolio diversification and could pay off in an outsized way if the gold market enters into a price-compounding mania phase.

Pension Jar Fund

Ohio will join Texas, through its Texas Teacher Retirement System, in having the only known public pension programs that hold precious metals.

Each fund appears to be targeting about $1 billion in gold holdings.

www.moneymetals.com/news/2020/09/01/pens...-look-to-gold-002119

Fed is going to endorse higher inflation. Really they only need to calculate it more accurately to succeed

www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-...on-strategy-official

More detail on Scotiabank's manipulation. I would say another reason they got out of gold trading

www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-...ld-spoofing-u-s-says

Bank of Nova Scotia agreed to pay $127.4 million to settle U.S. allegations that the company engaged in spoofing of gold and silver futures contracts, and made false statements to the government.

As part of the accord, Bank of Nova Scotia will pay a $17 million fine on Commodity Futures Trading Commission claims that it dramatically misrepresented the scope of the alleged wrongdoing. The bank made multiple false statements during the CFTC’s investigation of a spoofing case that was resolved in 2018 for $800,000, the agency said. The regulator said the new punishment reflects Bank of Nova Scotia’s lack of cooperation in the earlier probe and actions it took to conceal its misconduct.

“Entities seeking to cooperate with the CFTC, like all others that interact with the commission, must tell the truth,” James McDonald, the agency’s enforcement chief said in a statement. “When entities are not completely truthful, they will be penalized.”

www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-...-u-s-spoofing-claims

Good interview on the Comex failing in late March