The PBOC removed the requirement for permission to export gold out of China into Hong Kong—making it a purely customs matter—which effectively removes exchange controls on gold and provides crucial liquidity for the new Hong Kong gold market by allowing wealth holders to move gold between jurisdictions.

During the 1980s, Western bullion banks engaged in a gold carry trade—leasing gold from central banks at ~1% and investing the proceeds in US Treasuries yielding ~10%—but analyst Frank Veneroso documented that approximately one-third to one-half of the gold leased out never returned, having been absorbed into the market, likely purchased by the PBOC.

If the US transitions to a gold standard with the dollar collapsing, America will be in the same position as Germany was in 1920-1923 (Weimar hyperinflation), meaning some manufacturing might recover but only under deflationary conditions incompatible with current debt servicing.

Governments that tax savings, suppress interest rates to encourage consumption, and follow Keynesian stimulus undermine their own economies, while the 19th-century UK and Europe developed their industrial revolutions under gold standards without requiring Keynesian stimulus through stability mechanisms.

The Straits of Hormuz crisis (ongoing as of July 2026) has caused China to shelve or delay planned SGE gold vaults in Dubai, suggesting geopolitical considerations influence the pace and location of physical settlement infrastructure rollout.

The Western paper gold market is in structural decline as banks exit and the East builds a physical infrastructure network (SGE vaults, refining capacity), creating a two-tier system: the West's collapsing paper system versus the East's rising physical system.

China is planning for a future without the dollar—not just for itself, but for the world—and sees the collapse of the dollar coming fairly soon, with the ultimate goal being a gold exchange standard between the yuan and gold to replace the failing Western fiat currency system.

Russian government finances are in very good order—government debt to GDP is less than 20%, personal tax rates around 13%—and Russia can implement a gold standard tomorrow without the vulnerabilities that would constrain other economies.

China's PBOC has accumulated an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 additional tons of gold beyond officially declared reserves in recent years, giving the state total holdings of approximately 50,000 tons—representing 30 to 35% of global above-ground gold stocks—through a combination of official purchases during the gold carry trade era (1980s-2002) and recent aggressive acquisitions.

If Russia placed the ruble on a gold standard, Russian banks could lease gold from Western central banks at ~1% while earning a return of ~13% (current Russian interest rates) by shipping the gold to Russia and re-loaning it, creating an arbitrage that would immediately force Western economies to raise interest rates catastrophically or default, 'destroying the finances of Britain, France, and Germany completely.'

The US economy faces a slump due to the energy crisis (Hormuz disruptions) and will be unable to prevent currency destruction because the Fed will print money to support collapsing markets and bail out 'zombie' companies, inevitably destroying the dollar.

China's reversal of precious metals export policy—from suppression/export to aggressive imports of gold, silver, and copper—is evidence that the PBOC views the current moment as a crisis requiring immediate currency substitution, not a manageable normal-state adjustment.

The balance of trade deficit/surplus between nations is not determined by relative currency values but by differential savings rates; a nation with a 30-35% household savings rate (China) will run a trade surplus regardless of currency strength, while a nation with 7% savings (US) will run a deficit regardless of policy; hence a yuan gold standard would not make Chinese exports uncompetitive.

When one ounce of gold becomes equivalent to a million dollars (due to currency collapse), the volume traded in London becomes irrelevant because the currency's purchasing power is destroyed—leading to the practical death of the LBMA as a reference market.

In February 2026, the PBOC instructed its banks not to hold excessive US Treasury securities, which Macleod interprets as a signal to get rid of them entirely, not merely to reduce exposure modestly.

The US has no credible defense against a Chinese or Russian gold standard announcement: the US must first prove it hasn't disposed of its gold by consulting the Bundesbank, but the Bundesbank's 2012-13 attempt to retrieve 300 tons from the New York Fed was told it would take seven years, indicating the Fed does not actually have the gold to return.

The Deutsch mark remained consistently strong throughout the post-WWII period not because Germany suppressed it, but because Germans saved at high rates (30-35%), naturally constraining domestic demand and generating export surpluses.

China has stopped exporting chemicals like sulfuric acid and fertilizers that would earn dollars, as part of a comprehensive strategy to avoid dollar accumulation and force other nations to process their own ores, accelerating China's positioning as the global refiner of non-ferrous metals.

The Comex and London gold/silver futures markets are experiencing historic lows in open interest (not seen in 10-15 years), and this is driven not by lack of speculator interest but by banks actively avoiding dealing and quoting prices 'way out there' to exit the market despite still maintaining enormous short liabilities.

A ruble gold standard would strengthen China and Russia's economies 'enormously' and is therefore 'a must, whichever way you look at it,' but macroeconomists don't understand this because they lack historical experience with functioning gold standards.