BullionStar Blogs

Lack of Audits Undermine Lebanon’s Gold Leadership Claim

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• Ronan Manly
• 2 Comments

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While Lebanon’s central bank claims to hold the region’s second largest monetary gold reserves, the truth is far murkier. In 2019, external auditors were prevented from even viewing the gold that is supposedly stored in the Bank’s vaults in Beirut.

In addition, a large part of Lebanon’s gold is believed to have been long ago entrusted to the vaults of the New York... Continue Reading

Kremlin Confirms Plan to Back Ruble With Gold & Commodities

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• Ronan Manly
• 6 Comments

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Nikolay Patrushev, a powerful Kremlin player, has now confirmed that Moscow is actively working to back the Russian ruble with gold and commodities, and so create a currency with intrinsic value outside the orbit of the US dollar.

Western sanctions, says Patrushev, are also accelerating Russia’s plans to embrace Asian, African and Latin American markets via groupings such as... Continue Reading

Where is the Russian Federation’s Gold Stored?

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• Ronan Manly
• 2 Comments

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With weaponised sanctions targeting Russia’s foreign exchange reserves, the monetary gold reserves of the Bank of Russia have now taken on increased importance.

But where are these vast Russian gold reserves stored, a hoard which the Russian central bank claims to be 2299 tonnes? The popular belief is that ‘two thirds’ of this gold is stored in a vault in Moscow, and... Continue Reading

China & Russia Teaming Up in the Gold Market

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• Ronan Manly
• 2 Comments

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Laying potential foundations for a Chinese - Russian cooperative system utilizing gold, the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) and Russia’s National Financial Association are now actively collaborating to develop the Chinese and Russian gold markets.

Central to the cooperation on the Russian side is the National Financial Association’s precious metals market committee, which... Continue Reading

Spotlight on Gold & Silver Mining Share Indexes – Part 1

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• Ronan Manly
• 1 Comments

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While old timers may be familiar with the XAU and HUI indexes, do you know about the gold and silver mining stock indexes underlying GDX and GDXJ, or the gold and silver indexes from providers such as Solactive and MVIS?

With renewed interest in commodities and hard assets, now is a good time to brush up on how to get exposure to the precious metals mining sector. This is part... Continue Reading

Russian Ruble Relaunched Linked to Gold & Commodities

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• Ronan Manly
• 24 Comments

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Russia’s move to link the ruble to gold and link commodity payments to the ruble is a paradigm shift which the western media has not yet really grasped.

By playing both sides of the equation, i.e. linking the ruble to gold and then linking energy payments to the ruble, the Bank of Russia and the Kremlin are fundamentally altering the entire working assumptions of the global... Continue Reading

Russian Palladium & Platinum: Too Important to Sanction

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• Ronan Manly
• 3 Comments

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In a clear case of double standards, the management committee of the London Platinum and Palladium Market (LPPM), which is controlled by a group of bullion banks and refiners, has chosen not to suspend Russian refineries Krastsvetmet and Prioksky from the LPPM Good Delivery Lists for palladium and platinum.

This is despite the LPPM's sister organisation, the LBMA, having moved... Continue Reading

Important BullionStar Update: 11 March 2022

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• BullionStar
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Amid heightened geo-political and financial market risk, BullionStar is currently seeing extremely high demand for its precious metals products and limited availability in some bullion products.

Our average order size in March has increased by 343% so far compared to February, and we are seeing a larger percentage of orders originating from international customers.... Continue Reading

U.S. Tees Up 'Stop Russian Gold Act'

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• Ronan Manly
• 4 Comments

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On 7 March, in a coordinated fashion, the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) and COMEX both simultaneous suspended all Russian gold refiners at exactly the same time as a Bill was introduced into the US Senate targeting the central bank of Russia’s gold reserves.

In essence, a war has now been declared by the West against Russian gold. These moves will have far reaching... Continue Reading

The LBMA Fears Stoking the Russian Bear

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• Ronan Manly
• 3 Comments

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Despite evidence that the LBMA accredited Russian refineries are in breach of UK-US-EU sanctions and the LBMA’s own rules, the LBMA is stalling in taking any action.

Is this due to the massive number of Russian refinery gold and silver bars held by the world’s largest precious metals ETFs in London, or is the LBMA terrified of unleashing a Russian flight to gold for world... Continue Reading

LBMA a Deer in Headlights On Russian Gold Refiners Sanctions

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• Ronan Manly
• 5 Comments

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As a raft of new sanctions from the US, EU and UK come out targeting Russia's financial system and banks, the LBMA has quietly removed the fact that Russian banks VTB and Bank Otkritie are LBMA members.

At the same time, the LBMA has said nothing about the large group of Russian refiners on the current LBMA Good Delivery Lists for gold and silver.

With the Western... Continue Reading

BullionStar Financials FY 2021 – Year in Review

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• BullionStar
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This post reviews BullionStar’s financial performance for the financial year ending 30 June 2021, and milestones during that financial year. Continue Reading

Bloomberg Hit Piece On UAE Gold Triggers Strong Response

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• Ronan Manly
• 8 Comments

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In the continuing international gold power play between Dubai / UAE on one hand and the establishment / London gold markets on the other, the latest installment sees a hit piece by Bloomberg against Dubai, with an equally strong response from DMCC’s chairman Ahmed Bin Sulayem.

While the battle arena this time is smuggled gold from Africa, the axis of Western government - big... Continue Reading

UAE Takes On LBMA With Launch of Gold Good Delivery Standard

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• Ronan Manly
• 7 Comments

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In a bid to boost its gold trading hub, the United Arab Emirates has taken the proactive step of launching an Emirates Good Delivery Standard for gold.

This initiative, while also deflecting criticism from the London-Swiss gold establishment, also puts UAE and Dubai into direct competition with the LBMA.

But will the “the consistent and unsubstantiated attacks”... Continue Reading

Central Banks Coordinate Jawboning, Tapering to Prove Futile

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• Ronan Manly
• 7 Comments

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This week sees an unusual alignment of central bank meetings, with the ‘Big Gun’ central banks of the US Fed, ECB, Bank of England and Bank of Japan all holding internal meeting to discuss interest rate moves and the tapering of asset buying programs.

But since central banks have painted themselves into corners with unprecedented asset purchases and historically low... Continue Reading

Irish Central Bank Raises Gold Reserves by 33%

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• Ronan Manly
• 4 Comments

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The Central Bank of Ireland has quietly purchased 2 tonnes of gold, boosting its gold holdings by 33%.

While in absolute terms, this may not seem like a lot, the fact that it’s a Eurozone Western economy doing the gold buying is notable.

And with the Irish central bank governor now warning that the inflation coming down the pipe may be ‘something different’, the... Continue Reading

Singapore Adds 26 Tonnes of Gold to its Reserves

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• Ronan Manly
• 4 Comments

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Almost under the radar, Singapore’s central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has boosted it’s gold reserves by 20% via the purchase of more than 26 tonnes of gold.

While these MAS gold buying transactions are said to have occurred during May and June this year, the transactions are only now coming to light.

This is a major move by one of the... Continue Reading

Bullion Banksters Pay $50 Million to Get Out of Jail Free

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• Ronan Manly
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In yet another example of the Money Power that controls the City of London and Wall Street, the powerful bullion banks of the London Gold Fixing (Barclays, HSBC, The Bank of Nova Scotia, and SocGen) have now all succeeded in paying their way out of a gold price manipulation class action suit that has been running since 2014.

In essence, these banks have each bought a ‘Get Out... Continue Reading

Gold Shines as Money in Venezuela Amid Hyperinflation

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• Ronan Manly
• 2 Comments

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With inflation rates surging across the world and with talk of hyperinflation, it’s useful to look at one country whose currency has collapsed and which is in the midst of hyperinflation. That country is Venezuela.

And when the Venezuelan population loses trust in it’s fiat currency and the populace needs to find monetary alternatives, one of the alternatives that... Continue Reading

Swiss Pressure Against UAE Gold Imports Causes Rebuttal

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• Ronan Manly
• 3 Comments

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As the United Arab Emirates (UAE) prepares to launch an Emirates Good Delivery Standard for gold, the Swiss government has issued a letter to Swiss gold refineries calling on them to get strict on UAE gold imports.

Could these developments be purely coincidental, or are there more political games afoot? Who could be pulling the strings of the Swiss government? And how did... Continue Reading

Poland Accelerates Gold Buying; Buying 100 Tonnes in 2022

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• Ronan Manly
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From an indication in early 2021 that Poland's central bank (NBP) would buy another 100 tonnes of gold over the next few years, the NBP now plans to buy 100 tonnes within 2022.

This gold buying strategy is being led by NBP president Adam Glapiński, a central bank head who understands gold, and who also frequently appears in the Polish media to explain why gold is the ultimate... Continue Reading

India Quietly Accumulating Large Quantities of Gold

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• Ronan Manly
• 3 Comments

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India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), is now one of the world's largest gold buying, having stealthily accumulated 166 tonnes of gold since early 2018.

In total, the RBI now holds 724 tonnes of gold, with just under 300 tonnes stored in a secretive gold vault in Nagpur, India, and the rest held mainly at the Bank of England in London.

With China and... Continue Reading

How CBDCs Will Enable Surveillance & Control

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• Ronan Manly
• 7 Comments

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Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are an ominous development that will soon be launched by central banks across the world.

Billed as a public interest technology innovation, the real aim of CBDCs is to provide central banks and governments with enhanced forms of surveillance and control.

CBDCs are the antithesis to monetary freedom, so it is critical to... Continue Reading

Can Treasurers Afford to Ignore Palantir’s Gold Gambit?

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• Ronan Manly
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Palantir Technologies, the US analytical software company that counts the US Intelligence and spy agencies as some of it’s largest clients, recently purchased nearly 1 tonne of gold to hedge against possible ‘black swan events’.

The purchased gold, in the form of nearly three hundred 100-ounce gold bars, is stored in a vault in the north-east of the US, probably in a... Continue Reading

Afghanistan’s Gold at NY Fed: 1,731 Old Bars Held Since 1939

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• Ronan Manly
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Nearly 22 tonnes of Afghan central bank gold stored with the New York Fed has just been frozen by the US Treasury.

This Afghan gold consists of a total of 1731 old “non-Good Delivery’ gold bars, which have been in the New York Fed vault since 1939.

This is also not the first time this Afghan gold has been blocked, as it was also frozen between 1999 and 2001. Continue Reading

The Trigger That Closed the U.S. Gold Window

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• Ronan Manly
• 4 Comments

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While a lot will be written about the 50th anniversary of the US Government famously suspending the convertibility of US dollars into gold on 15 August 1971, there is far less, if any, coverage about what exactly triggered it and why the timing had to be 15 August.

Bringing together never before seen material, this article blows a lid on the British and the Bank of England... Continue Reading

Gold Price Smash in Paper, But Physical Demand On Fire

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• Ronan Manly
• 13 Comments

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As COMEX gold trading opened for the week on Sunday 8 August, while New York, London, Singapore and Tokyo were all closed, huge volumes of selling hit the market to take down the gold price.

Who were the sellers and who did they represent, and does this intervention have central bank involvement?

While a price smash in the paper gold and silver markets may fool Wall... Continue Reading

Brazil Refuses to Answer Questions About Gold Reserves

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• Ronan Manly
• 7 Comments

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After buying 53.5 tonnes of gold over May and June, Brazil is now the third largest central bank gold buyer so far this year, and currently claims to hold 121 tonnes of the yellow metal.

However, following a series of questions being put to the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) about this gold and where it is stored, the BCB has refused to answer every single question, citing... Continue Reading

The Saga Continues For Venezuela’s Gold at the BoE

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• Ronan Manly
• 4 Comments

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The legal fight over 31 tonnes of gold owned by Venezuela’s central bank (BCV) and stored at the Bank of England continues, and this month made it all to way to the Supreme Court in London.

At stake is who has the authority to withdraw the BCV gold, and who is the recognised president of Venezuela, Maduro or the US and UK backed Guaidó.

The ramifications of the... Continue Reading

Infographic: Paper Silver vs. Physical Silver

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• BullionStar
• 1 Comments

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The international silver price is derived from gigantic trading volumes of ‘paper silver’ in London and New York which have little connection to real physical silver inventories or annual silver supply.

It is therefore crucial for investors to understand the differences between physical silver and paper silver and to grasp that one is real ownership of tangible silver while... Continue Reading

Has Macron’s Call For New IMF Gold Sales Been Slapped Down?

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• Ronan Manly
• 9 Comments

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Recently, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, called for renewed IMF gold sales under the pretext of helping to finance African economies. In May and again in June, Macron and his advisers tried to ‘put the IMF gold sales idea on the table’.

But who benefits from such sales? Who wants to get their hands on the IMF gold? Is it a bullion bank bailout or a redistribution... Continue Reading

Thai Central Bank Buys 90 Tonnes of Gold in April & May

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• Ronan Manly
• 3 Comments

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With an addition to 90 tonnes of gold to its gold reserves over April and May, the Thai central bank, Bank of Thailand, has now leapt into pole position as the world’s largest central bank gold buyer so far in 2021.

Surprisingly, this gold accumulation by Thailand has gone largest unnoticed in the media, with little or no comment. Not helping matters has been the Bank of... Continue Reading

In Ongoing Saga, Dubai Stands its Ground With the LBMA

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• Ronan Manly
• 7 Comments

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Following LBMA threats against the Dubai gold market last November, the DMCC executive chairman had the courage to point out the hypocrisy of the LBMA’s position.

While this criticism of the LBMA has continued into 2021, now Dubai & the UAE are also fighting back with proactive gold market initiatives that could see UAE become an even bigger competitor to London. Continue Reading

Stealthy Central Banks at the London Gold Market's Heart

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• Ronan Manly
• 4 Comments

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Central bank gold operations lie at the heart of the London Gold Market under the watchful eye of the Bank of England, but you would be forgiven for not knowing this, because they don’t want you to know.

Never in the history of financial markets has there been a trading venue that has been more opaque, more secretive, and more impenetrable than the London Gold Market. Continue Reading

Russia Lines Up State Fund For Military Mobilization

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• Ronan Manly
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With the imminent arrival of the massive Russian sovereign wealth fund, the National Wealth Fund, as a new gold buyer in addition to the firepower of Russia's central bank, it now looks like Russia is upping the stakes in it's grand game of geo-political and monetary chess. Indeed a game of 4D chess that uses golden pieces. Continue Reading

BullionStar Financials FY 2020 – Year in Review

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• BullionStar
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This post reviews BullionStar’s financial performance and milestones for the financial year ending 30 June 2020. Continue Reading

LBMA Misleads Silver Market With False Claims

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• Ronan Manly
• 5 Comments

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It has just come to light that the LBMA silver holdings in London vaults have been overstated by 3300 tonnes since they were reported in early April. Is this incompetence, or a case of blatant deception?

Since London silver vault holdings are an international gauge into the availability of silver supply for the investor and industrial markets, a full investigation of the LBMA... Continue Reading

LBMA Acknowledges Silver Buying Frenzy & Shortage Fears

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• Ronan Manly
• 4 Comments

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A new report on investment silver from the LBMA is surprising in that it acknowledges the Silver Squeeze movement as having made a profound impact on silver ETF and bar and coin demand, and also startlingly admits that there were real concerns in February that London would run out of silver if ETF demand remained at an elevated level. Continue Reading

Hungary Boosts Gold Reserves by 3,000% in Under 3 Years

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• Ronan Manly
• 5 Comments

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Following a 10 fold increase in its gold reserves in 2018 from 3.1 tonnes to 31.5 tonnes, the Hungarian central bank has done it again, this time tripling the 31.5 tonnes to 94.5 tonnes with a recent gold buying transaction. That’s a 3000% increase since October 2018.

The motivation, say the Hungarians, is to counter the growing risks to the global system of unlimited debt,... Continue Reading

ScotiaBank Sells Its New York COMEX Vault

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• Ronan Manly
• 5 Comments

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As the multi-year saga of the ScotiaBank withdrawal from the precious metals markets continues, the latest installment finds Scotia selling its COMEX New York vault to MTB / MKS PAMP. This deal includes a transfer of all the gold and silver in the NY Scotia vault to the care of MTB.

Despite this deal, Scotia is still very much involved in precious metals, especially in London,... Continue Reading

Orwellian CFTC Now Going After Reddit Silver Apes

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• Ronan Manly
• 15 Comments

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In an Orwellian development, US regulator the CFTC may be preparing to investigate retail traders for manipulation of the silver price.

As a reminder, this is the same CFTC that for many years and in multiple investigations, failed to find any evidence of bullion bank silver price manipulation, until that is, the DoJ’s prosecution of JP Morgan forced the CFTC to confront... Continue Reading

ETF Firm Warns Buying Silver Will Harm Hedge Funds & Banks

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• Ronan Manly
• 29 Comments

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The panic among silver-backed ETFs triggered by a surge in demand for silver sees no sign of abating and is entering the realm of the Twilight Zone. First we had SLV, the world’s largest silver ETF, warning that there may not be enough available silver to supply to the iShares Silver Trust.

Now we have Aberdeen Standard, operator of the SIVR silver ETF, openly panicking about... Continue Reading

#SilverSqueeze Hits London as SLV Warns of Limited Supply

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• Ronan Manly
• 15 Comments

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In a dramatic development, the iShares Silver Trust (SLV), has just updated its prospectus warning that there may not be enough available silver supply for delivery into SLV, and that this may adversely affect investments in SLV Shares.

Even more dramatically, this warning was drafted into the latest SLV prospectus on 3 February, the exact day after which JP Morgan tapped... Continue Reading

85% of Silver in London Already Held by ETFs

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• Ronan Manly
• 21 Comments

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While many eyes were on the mammoth iShares Silver Trust (SLV) last week, that is only part of the picture, as there are 14 other silver-backed ETFs which claim to store their silver in London.

Between them SLV and these other ETFs hold over 85% of all the silver in the LBMA London vaults. Which means that a few more days of very strong inflows into silver ETFs will create a... Continue Reading

The Silver Squeeze vs. Wall Street Corruption

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• Ronan Manly
• 11 Comments

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In unprecedented fashion, a #SilverSqueeze movement has rapidly grown to take on the financial establishment in the 'paper' silver markets of London and New York.

But if it is to have any chance of success, this #SilverSqueeze movement must attack the Achilles heel of the bullion banks. That Achilles heel is the availability of physical silver. Continue Reading

#SilverSqueeze: Physical Silver Shortage vs. Paper Silver

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• BullionStar
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The silver short squeeze in physical silver currently underway is unprecedented. Even so, the spot spot price of paper silver does not anywhere near reflect the real physical equilibrium price of silver. BullionStar may therefore in the near future have no option but to abandon setting prices based on silver spot price altogether and move to fixed prices. Continue Reading

The Very Early Bitcoin Exchanges of 2009 to 2011

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• Ronan Manly
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With the rapid proliferation of crypto exchanges and decentralized finance on the blockchain, it’s hard to believe that the first Bitcoin exchanges didn’t even exist less than 12 years ago.

From New Liberty Standard to Bitcoin Market to Mt. Gox, this article uses website archives to take a look back at the pioneering exchanges of 2009-2011, their founders and connections... Continue Reading

Inflation-Adjusted Gold & Silver Prices Are Staggering

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• Ronan Manly
• 12 Comments

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While the world is fixated with nominal price changes in gold and silver, it is real (inflation-adjusted) prices of the two metals which are arguably more important.

Even when using the rigged CPI data of the US Government, nominal gold and silver prices in US dollars are currently far below their real (inflation-adjusted) all time highs.

But when using the more... Continue Reading

Behind the Headlines of Record Gold Stocks in London Vaults

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• Ronan Manly
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According to the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), there are now record gold stocks of 9450 tonnes held in the London vaults.

While trumpeting record gold holdings may grab headlines, it’s a misleading claim if, as appears to be the case, only a tiny fraction of these total gold holdings are available to ‘back-up’ the gigantic fractionally-backed LBMA paper gold... Continue Reading

2020 Was a Stellar Year For Gold & Silver Bullion Coin Sales

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• Ronan Manly
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2020 was a remarkably strong year for gold and silver bullion coins sales by the US Mint, Perth Mint and Royal Canadian Mint.

Gold sales increased by a massive 500% at the US Mint and more than doubled at the Perth Mint and Royal Canadian Mint. Silver sales doubled at the US Mint while the Perth Mint boosted silver sales by 42%. Continue Reading