He who holds the gold, makes the rules.
This is a motto that you will hear espoused by gold bugs, precious metals advocates, or anyone that has studied financial history in any meaningful way.
The fact is, if you don't hold it, then you don't own it.
This is something that I have warned about for years, as people continue to pile into "paper" precious metals assets, most specifically, those that do not guarantee to hold the precious metals in physical reserve, accounting for every oz that they own via regularly scheduled audits.
As Central Banks around the world continue to race into gold, a trend I have been noting throughout the course of this year, some, are being painfully reminded of the golden rule and are ruing the day they ever gave up physical ownership of their most valuable, real asset.
Venezuela, who is currently led by a failing socialist government, with President Nicolas Maduro at its head, is one such country that is learning this valuable lesson.
Venezuela, for months has been attempting to repatriate their gold holdings from the Bank of England, the latter of whom "allegedly" holds a large percentage of the worlds gold reserves since the ending of World War 2.
The reasoning for this, was one of the greatest cons in history, and one that continues to unfold. Western Central Banksters convinced many of the Worlds Nations that it would be "safer" to hold their reserves within the United States and England.
Ironically, over the last few decades, this has been just about the worst place in the world to hold your gold bullion, as these nations have rehypothecated this gold to near infinity. But don't worry, they claim their "good" for it.
Over the course of these past few months, the Bank of England has used every stall tactic in the book, stating to Venezuela various problems with delivery. Then, last week, reality finally struck for the government of Venezuela, as President Trump acted, placing sanctions on Venezuela's gold sector.
The message was sent, and following through on this shot over the bow, the Bank of England stated that they would not be returning Venezuela's gold, even though they are the legal, rightful owners of that gold!
Despite what your opinions are of the Venezuela government, of which mine are abysmally low. This is preposterous and should come as a dire warning to the majority of all other countries who have their gold held in foreign locations.
The Bank of England in all likelihood simply doesn't have the gold to return to Venezuela on hand, confirming a suspicion that many precious metal bugs have had for years, in which they assert that Western Central bankers have secretly been selling the gold that they were entrusted to maintain and protect, artificially suppressing the price of gold in the process.
Perhaps the is gig is up, and this will be the catalyst that will eventually break the backs of the gold cartel, as other Central Banks finally wake up and realize that maybe, just maybe it is better if they physically hold their precious metals?
We shall see.