/biz/ - Business & Finance

>>13504916

“Gold is the money of kings, silver is the money of gentlemen, barter is the money of peasants – but debt is the money of slaves.”

~Norm Franz ("Money & Wealth in the New Millennium: A Prophetic Guide to the New World Economic Order")

If gold is not "money", then why do the central banks of the world hold gold reserves in the first place? It's a handy way of settling large transactions between nation-states (trade sanctions, reparations, etc.). The US government holds its gold in Fort Knox (of course) and also at the US Mint facility in West Point, NY. And the New York branch of the Federal Reserve is a custodian for a portion of other nations' gold holdings; all it takes for a transfer of funds is to take the required bars of gold bullion to the scales, weigh it, and then allocate it to the national government receiving payment. Here's a list of the 10 countries with the most gold holdings:

>https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/news/gold-countries-that-hold-largest-reserves-2019-4-1028128947

Even if not currently illegal to do so at the moment, the federal government discourages private citizens from stockpiling gold in bulk through direct and indirect measures. Ever wonder why you have to report transactions totaling $10,000+ to the government? Originally, it was to counter money laundering committed by organized crime syndicates or to fund terrorism, but it also serves as a measure of capital controls (i.e. Preventing money from leaving the country without prior authorization). It's also related to why governments sneer at cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin. Only sovereign governments have the authority to mint coins and print currency. In other words, the government hates competition, and will do whatever it takes to get its cut of the transaction (cryptocurrencies subvert Uncle Sam as the middleman).