Cbdc arrival

[n1k0s]

There is certainly many fearmongering channels on youtube about CBDC. It will come come but from the point of view of the cental banks, they can't risk rolling out a whole new infrastructure without attracting adoption. CDBCs will offer some benefits to the users, otherwise they will simply not be adopted. People will continue doing their transactions in some other form (like crypto, precious metals or other).

Our smartphones are also tracking everything we do but they offer some advantages, and hence we all choose to keep them.

[HonestMoneyGoldSilver]

2 minutes ago, Bigmarc said:

It's like the silver forum has advertised for new members in the daily mail. 

Running around frightened of the future must be exhausting. Nut job YouTube channels is not research. Countries have to keep up with the tech on the market. Most people in China use alipay, 1.3 billion users. There is we chat too. Ai is around the corner, so using bit of paper as a medium of exchange dying out regardless of cbdc's. 

Respectfully sir there are biometric sensors on apartment buildings in China, no keys, no cards. If the system doesn't like your face you don't get into your building. There are many documented instances of people being locked out due to political reasons and they are from a host of different sources from private accounts to youtube channels

There was a massive furore several months ago with regional Chinese banks misappropriating customers funds FTX-style. When customers went to get their money, they were denied, told their current and savings accounts were gone. There were mass protests, millions of people. Then the CCP announced they had fixed the problem and customers could get their funds but only in person at the branch. So naturally there was a celebration and customers flocked towards the branches, sometimes from hundreds of miles away to get to that one particular branch. Guess what though? When the system identified customers of the banks heading to the branches, they were denied train tickets, denied plane tickets, denied bus tickets, even the toll booths on the roads wouldn't let them pass!!

Is this all 3rd-hand info? NOT IN MY CASE. I have family in Hong Kong, westerners and native Hong Kongers, who run businesses and were caught in the same trap. They travelled from Hong Kong to Shenzhen after the covid restrictions were dropped (good luck travelling in China under covid restrictions) to get their money in person from their branch. What happened? Oh certainly sir, you can have your money, there's just one catch - you can't withdraw cash and the only place you can send your money is another bank within the same system!!! So I personally know people who have huge sums of money, 6 and 7 figures, tied up in this system with no way to transfer. It's as good as gone unless you want to buy something the CCP approve in an area in which the CCP approve it

Then we have numerous internationally famous incidents like with RAY DALIO (the CEO of the world's largest hedge fund, Bridgewater) and BMW, you know those small fish, who made money in China and can't get it out. They are subject to restrictions

Who made this tech for China? You guessed it. WE DID. Western companies like Google, Microsoft, etc, gave this tech to the CCP. There are many documented cases of workers at these companies, particularly Google, who protested and resigned over giving this tech to China. So there you have the blueprint for what's to come in the west. Our biggest companies, the FAANG+, are going to use their own social credit scores, surveillance tech and digital currencies to control us. That is not speculation, it is happening before our eyes and has already happened in China. The WEF and Bilderbergers, who are populated by folks like Bill Gates, are so confident about the merits and success they are discussing it openly. Our own UK government are planning a rollout of CBDCs in 2025. The jobs were advertised months ago on official government websites for "Head of CBDCs". Those roles have now been filled. 

[Nik]

3 hours ago, HonestMoneyGoldSilver said:

Clown Planet has this covered. Listen to the words of these people, look at the video from BYB the other day. I once had a discussion with BYB about CBDCs and he called me "a nut job". An authoritarian nightmare with programmable currency, expiry dates, preferred and banned merchants, customers unable to get cash from the bank and CCP-style social credit scores in the west doesn't look so crazy now. The WEF are openly saying it. People all over the world can't get money from their banks or have transactions denied (especially for PMs):

 

 

The dude in the top video is Eswar Prasad from the International Monetary Fund:  F&D Authors (imf.org)

[Roy]

On 07/07/2023 at 03:53, EdwardTeach said:

All we have to do to stop CBDCs from happening is for enough people to refuse to use them when buying things and refuse to accept them as payment if people try buy things from you. Just use any form of currency other than a CBDC when making or receiving payments

Had a rather boozy lunch with a former colleague/current pal.

The conversation drifted towards CBDCs and he had a unique perspective:

It doesn't matter what we think about CBCDs, it's going to happen, and don't think we can make a change- they (WEF?) aren't interested in us as customers, our money is no good.

He put forward this thesis:

Perhaps 25% of the world are unbanked.

There are 8 billion people in the world and 9.2 billion mobile phone subscriptions.

1 billion women do not have a bank account.

Digital payments could help empower women and encourage their economic participation.

 

Unbanked developing countries/pp %

Vietnam 69% 

Philippines 66%

Mexico 63%

Indonesia 51%

Brazil 30%

Russia 24%

India 20%

China 20%

SA 31%

USA 7%

 

We are not the intended customer base!

[n1k0s]

15 minutes ago, Roy said:

Had a rather boozy lunch with a former colleague/current pal.

The conversation drifted towards CBDCs and he had a unique perspective:

It doesn't matter what we think about CBCDs, it's going to happen, and don't think we can make a change- they (WEF?) aren't interested in us as customers, our money is no good.

He put forward this thesis:

Perhaps 25% of the world are unbanked.

There are 8 billion people in the world and 9.2 billion mobile phone subscriptions.

1 billion women do not have a bank account.

Digital payments could help empower women and encourage their economic participation.

 

Unbanked developing countries/pp %

Vietnam 69% 

Philippines 66%

Mexico 63%

Indonesia 51%

Brazil 30%

Russia 24%

India 20%

China 20%

SA 31%

USA 7%

 

We are not the intended customer base!

Very interesting perspective, thanks for sharing. 

Basically it is all about tapping into a new source. 

Quite coincidentally, bitcoin is also advocating about the participation of the unbanked (as "permissionless" system)

[Roy]

2 minutes ago, n1k0s said:

Quite coincidentally, bitcoin is also advocating about the participation of the unbanked (as "permissionless" system)

Correct. When I first discovered bitcoin, I thought it would be a panacea for developing countries and remittances. It was very exciting.

However, it didn't catch on. Was it the costs, or was it the transfer times?

I don't know, but in developing countries, their smartphone apps are so smooth and their UI so intuitive, everyone can use them and you see folk paying for food at the market, paying for taxis (motorcycle tricycles) and splitting bills with their friends.

You don't need anything else, it's easy to load up credit and you do not need to leave the house.

Until there is a cryptocurrency that can do all this, and more, then folk will not switch.

Bitcoin tried and failed. It's handy as a store of value but not useful in daily commerce.

[n1k0s]

33 minutes ago, Roy said:

Correct. When I first discovered bitcoin, I thought it would be a panacea for developing countries and remittances. It was very exciting.

However, it didn't catch on. Was it the costs, or was it the transfer times?

I don't know, but in developing countries, their smartphone apps are so smooth and their UI so intuitive, everyone can use them and you see folk paying for food at the market, paying for taxis (motorcycle tricycles) and splitting bills with their friends.

You don't need anything else, it's easy to load up credit and you do not need to leave the house.

Until there is a cryptocurrency that can do all this, and more, then folk will not switch.

Bitcoin tried and failed. It's handy as a store of value but not useful in daily commerce.

I would not really call bitcoin failed, unless for daily commerce as you say.

but then again do we use T-bills or gold bars to buy groceries?

it has found a use case as store of value and it is quite good at that.

expanding it to more use cases would not work

[HonestMoneyGoldSilver]

31 minutes ago, Roy said:

Had a rather boozy lunch with a former colleague/current pal.

The conversation drifted towards CBDCs and he had a unique perspective:

It doesn't matter what we think about CBCDs, it's going to happen, and don't think we can make a change- they (WEF?) aren't interested in us as customers, our money is no good.

He put forward this thesis:

Perhaps 25% of the world are unbanked.

There are 8 billion people in the world and 9.2 billion mobile phone subscriptions.

1 billion women do not have a bank account.

Digital payments could help empower women and encourage their economic participation.

 

Unbanked developing countries/pp %

Vietnam 69% 

Philippines 66%

Mexico 63%

Indonesia 51%

Brazil 30%

Russia 24%

India 20%

China 20%

SA 31%

USA 7%

 

We are not the intended customer base!

I'd maybe condense that to the poor are the intended targets.

In the richest large state in the world - California - the middle classes are being eradicated. The grand plan is to have a clerico-fascist system (doctrine > facts) with only two classes of being - the aristocracy and the peasant. The state is home to some of the biggest companies and richest men in the world alongside hundreds of thousands of homeless people. Meanwhile the middle classes are being squeezed to death with taxes, crime and insane house prices. For the first time in history more homeowners and businesses are selling up and leaving California than coming to it. If it can happen to California it can happen anywhere in the west.

We're going to get a little flavour of that in the UK with rates being jacked. For the average UK citizen that owns a house with a mortgage, they are now spending 55% of their total income on housing alone:

Average UK Household Budget 2023 | NimbleFins

In London the figure is > 55%, which is roughly on par with Hong Kong, the most expensive city in the world alongside Singapore, New York, Tel Aviv and LA

As this article puts it:  A study by NimbleFins reveals that on average, Brits spend nearly 55% of their income on housing. This leaves them with very little wiggle room for wealth creation. In fact, after transport, fuel, groceries and utilities, there’s barely anything left for saving and investments.

At this rate the middle classes will be extinct in the not-too-distant future. Recent reports claim savings accounts for many families are being used to pay increases in mortgages and inflation on groceries, their savings will be depleted by Christmas. Those who require government assistance in any form, particularly those on Universal Credit and Housing Benefit, will be paid in CBDCs and will only be allowed to spend their tokens at government-approved places on government-approved items. Of course as with all laws and problems in this world if you are rich these restrictions may not apply. 

I believe the average person is the target, the average person being poor. In more extreme examples like in China or Russia we can see even billionaires having their wings clipped like Jack Ma. Then you have Guo Guangchang and fashion billionaire, Zhou Changjian, who disappeared from public life in 2015 and 2016 respectively with no explanation. Similarly, Ren Zhiquian, who was expelled from the CCP (these are all billionaires). In Russia we've seen Oligarchs targeted by Putin including Abramovich and others who were once friendly with the Kremlin. 

Sorry for another TL:DR - nobody is safe IMHO. Independent wealth and independence in general are conditional on your political allegiance, I guess they always have been, but in an era of CBDCs the central authorities can immediately cut you down like when the Fed chopped the knees off the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. The Fed yoinked $400 billion. Closer to home the Bank of England have frozen $1.56 billion in gold held by Venezuela due to political reasons. Those decisions may be justified or otherwise but the net result is the central authorities have seized or frozen assets that do not belong to them. If they will do that to a nuclear power and to billionaires, you and I are easy targets. 

[Bratnia]

1 hour ago, HonestMoneyGoldSilver said:

For the average UK citizen that owns a house with a mortgage, they are now spending 55% of their total income on housing alone:

Only a minority of private housing is mortgaged, the majority is owned outright (greater than 75% comes to mind). Historically cost of housing for those with mortgages has ranged 15% to 55% of income, natural cycles. For those that can't afford to buy due to high cost of servicing a mortgage there are others with surplus cash that might buy additional properties when prices are relatively low (interest rates relatively high) as bricks-and-mortar is a generally accepted reasonable high inflation hedge - just a slow one (involves years, perhaps 5 or more) for that to come-good). Safe as houses - a potentially better choice than leaving cash in deposit accounts earning less than inflation after taxation.

Quote

like when the Fed chopped the knees off the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.

Use the dollar, have all international trade settlements pass through SETS, that's controlled by the US ... is now increasingly a thing of the past. In having cut Russia off from that (sanctions) the result has been a accelerated move away from the US dollar/SETS towards alternatives. It's not really hurt Russia, rather it is the US cutting itself off and seeing a accelerated decline of its power/control. The combined populations of Russia, China, India, Africa, S America, Arabia ...etc. tallies to more than two-thirds of the global population that are agreeing to NOT use the US dollar/SETS. Money lost due to sanctions is just a drop in a ocean and I suspect is counted by some as money well spent (lost) in comparison to the accelerated agreement to adopt alternatives.

[Bratnia]

For CBDC to 'succeed' other forms will have to be squashed, including gold. Otherwise the British CBDC risks a largescale exit from the Pound and the associated problems that induces.

If you hold physical gold, that is no longer permitted to be traded in the UK, along with high/total risk of confiscation if attempted to be physically moved abroad to where it might otherwise still be freely traded, is it not better to instead hold electronic/digital gold for the ability to quickly move that across international borders?

Or maybe a combination of both. A gold ETF supposedly backed by physical gold but where that could all disappear if there was a large gold-run (there's over 100 times more paper gold than physical gold and if the demand for physical delivery spikes, the ability to cover all such demands fails), alongside physical gold (that might potentially become just a dead weight, unable to be revealed, traded or moved).

Or even a combination of gold and silver. When the US nationalised gold in 1934 (compulsory purchased and locked up in Fort Knox), silver, the main secondary metallic coin metal, was still permitted.

[HonestMoneyGoldSilver]

1 hour ago, Bratnia said:

Only a minority of private housing is mortgaged, the majority is owned outright (greater than 75% comes to mind). Historically cost of housing for those with mortgages has ranged 15% to 55% of income, natural cycles. For those that can't afford to buy due to high cost of servicing a mortgage there are others with surplus cash that might buy additional properties when prices are relatively low (interest rates relatively high) as bricks-and-mortar is a generally accepted reasonable high inflation hedge - just a slow one (involves years, perhaps 5 or more) for that to come-good). Safe as houses - a potentially better choice than leaving cash in deposit accounts earning less than inflation after taxation.

Use the dollar, have all international trade settlements pass through SETS, that's controlled by the US ... is now increasingly a thing of the past. In having cut Russia off from that (sanctions) the result has been a accelerated move away from the US dollar/SETS towards alternatives. It's not really hurt Russia, rather it is the US cutting itself off and seeing a accelerated decline of its power/control. The combined populations of Russia, China, India, Africa, S America, Arabia ...etc. tallies to more than two-thirds of the global population that are agreeing to NOT use the US dollar/SETS. Money lost due to sanctions is just a drop in a ocean and I suspect is counted by some as money well spent (lost) in comparison to the accelerated agreement to adopt alternatives.

If you click on the link to the stats you will see they are broken down into 4 categories: 1) those with a mortgage (55%), 2) private rented (36%), 3) social rented (18%) and 4) owned outright (2%). I was talking about mortgagees specifically feeling the squeeze

As for the second paragraph, I agree completely. It was a dumb move by the USA/NATO but our expectations for the current US Administration and POTUS are pretty low, right?

[Bigmarc]

7 hours ago, HonestMoneyGoldSilver said:

Respectfully sir there are biometric sensors on apartment buildings in China, no keys, no cards. If the system doesn't like your face you don't get into your building. There are many documented instances of people being locked out due to political reasons and they are from a host of different sources from private accounts to youtube channels

The wallet doesn't need to have that function, if you make purchases of less than $800 dollars then you don't even need kyc, all you need is a phone number. I remember about 15 years ago flying into Cuba getting a retna scan, the tech has been around for years, it's even linked to our passports. If it was for political reasons then it's no different to Nigel ferage having his bank accounts stopped. That function is available now. 

 

8 hours ago, HonestMoneyGoldSilver said:

There was a massive furore several months ago with regional Chinese banks misappropriating customers funds FTX-style. When customers went to get their money, they were denied, told their current and savings accounts were gone. There were mass protests, millions of people. Then the CCP announced they had fixed the problem and customers could get their funds but only in person at the branch. So naturally there was a celebration and customers flocked towards the branches, sometimes from hundreds of miles away to get to that one particular branch. Guess what though? When the system identified customers of the banks heading to the branches, they were denied train tickets, denied plane tickets, denied bus tickets, even the toll booths on the roads wouldn't let them pass!!

This has nothing to do with cbdc's. Infact it probably promotes that it's a better alternative rather than traditional banking. 

8 hours ago, HonestMoneyGoldSilver said:

s this all 3rd-hand info? NOT IN MY CASE. I have family in Hong Kong, westerners and native Hong Kongers, who run businesses and were caught in the same trap. They travelled from Hong Kong to Shenzhen after the covid restrictions were dropped (good luck travelling in China under covid restrictions) to get their money in person from their branch. What happened? Oh certainly sir, you can have your money, there's just one catch - you can't withdraw cash and the only place you can send your money is another bank within the same system!!! So I personally know people who have huge sums of money, 6 and 7 figures, tied up in this system with no way to transfer. It's as good as gone unless you want to buy something the CCP approve in an area in which the CCP approve it

Is this cbdc? Can't tell, if not then the current system is failing. 

 

8 hours ago, HonestMoneyGoldSilver said:

Then we have numerous internationally famous incidents like with RAY DALIO (the CEO of the world's largest hedge fund, Bridgewater) and BMW, you know those small fish, who made money in China and can't get it out. They are subject to restrictions

Not cbdc (you would make a good lawyer)

 

8 hours ago, HonestMoneyGoldSilver said:

Who made this tech for China? You guessed it. WE DID. Western companies like Google, Microsoft, etc, gave this tech to the CCP. There are many documented cases of workers at these companies, particularly Google, who protested and resigned over giving this tech to China. So there you have the blueprint for what's to come in the west. Our biggest companies, the FAANG+, are going to use their own social credit scores, surveillance tech and digital currencies to control us. That is not speculation, it is happening before our eyes and has already happened in China.

You really don't like China. 

 

 

[HonestMoneyGoldSilver]

@Bigmarc - my friend it is to do with CBDCs, they are linked to your identity and Social Credit Score. It is the CCP SCC CBDC AI that approves or denies entry to buildings with biometric sensors. These biometric sensors and CBDCs are currently active in at least 26 Chinese regions:

How Biometrics Can Help Secure CBDCs? (idexbiometrics.com)

Why CBDCs will likely be ID-based | Financial Times (ft.com)

CBDCs need digital identities and high security, says BIS - Tech Wire Asia

Largest Bank in Southeast Asia Is Adding Support for China's CBDC (yahoo.com)

I actually love China (and Russia). Parts of those countries have spectacular natural beauty. I love the history and the old buildings too. I had scheduled plans to visit both before covid and the Ukraine thing. St Petersburg, Moscow, Stalingrad and the Forbidden City are high on my list, along with Iran. Hopefully it will still be possible to visit those places in future

I love China but despise the CCP

[tpcob303]

10 hours ago, HonestMoneyGoldSilver said:

 

In parts of Africa, can't remember if it was Nigeria specifically, they have attached facial scanners and digital currency to water pumps, like the old-school ones you have to pump yourself. If the system doesn't like your face or you don't have enough social credits, you can't get water from the pump. That terrifies me, especially when the WEF claim, "water is not a fundamental human right". Nah we'll only die without it but sure, it's not fundamental, not a right for every human being. Satanism in action

They do this in CCP China for purchases in supermarkets using facial recognition tied to the cbdc.

Klaus Schwaub head of the WEF was literally interviewed in his home with a bust of Lenin on a shelf in the background. Can't trust the guy, especially when such a quote as "you will own nothing, and be happy for it."

 

[Happypanda88]

The most common payment type in mainland China is WeChatPay, with AliPay probably being a distant second place. These form of payments are similar to PayPal but you pay via an App on your smartphone. Since March 2023, I have travelled into four provinces inside of China.  At supermarkets, I either pay with cash or via the AliPay app.  Where all this facial recognition and cbdc at supermarkets comes from I have no idea. 

It's one thing seeing a couple of videos on China versus actually being there yourself on the ground. There are too many armchair experts around for my liking. 

[Bratnia]

On 08/07/2023 at 16:37, Roy said:

Correct. When I first discovered bitcoin, I thought it would be a panacea for developing countries and remittances. It was very exciting.

However, it didn't catch on. Was it the costs, or was it the transfer times?

I don't know, but in developing countries, their smartphone apps are so smooth and their UI so intuitive, everyone can use them and you see folk paying for food at the market, paying for taxis (motorcycle tricycles) and splitting bills with their friends.

You don't need anything else, it's easy to load up credit and you do not need to leave the house.

Until there is a cryptocurrency that can do all this, and more, then folk will not switch.

Bitcoin tried and failed. It's handy as a store of value but not useful in daily commerce.

The technology/concept is great, cuts out banks and states. Bitcoin prices however aren't stable and as such aren't stable value. CBDC's give the illusion of being stable value - but they aren't, they have a natural tendency to decline (inflation via domestic currency devaluation).

The more ideal would be a 'coin' that consistently maintained its purchase power. The closest non-perfect I know to that is a equal combination of global stocks, gold (silver) and land. Accordingly that's pretty much the base of my actual asset allocation. Converting that at present involves just a transfer from/to my regular spending (bank) account to/from my brokerage account, along with a adjustment buy/sell trade.

The more ideal, at least for individuals, is for that regular spending account to be independent, not controlled by any one state/bank. CBDC flies in the face of that, has the intent to force you to only use it and nothing else, which is obvious as the alternatives remove the power/control that states have.

What is good for individuals can be bad for the state (general population), so states are banding together to try and address their potential loss of control/power, which entails considerable loss of individuals freedoms such as being able to open/operate foreign accounts in countries outside of that group. Data communications links will have to be censored and the state will need high visibility into all transactions/actions.

Conceptually the freedom side should win, takes just one state to be outside of that main group along with secure data/communications link. With such and a majority of individuals would likely transfer over to using that for transactions rather than remaining bound into each individual states system. As part of that battle so freedoms are inclined to become massively curtailed.

[Bigmarc]

On 10/07/2023 at 13:48, Bratnia said:

Bitcoin prices however aren't stable and as such aren't stable value

You could arguably say that gold was stable until they introduced its first etf, then it been on the rise ever since. Google says the first gold etf was march 2003. 

Bitcoin may have an etf coming soon (I'm a little sceptical about it) so will be interesting to see what will happen. 

 

[n1k0s]

An spot ETF will "legitimize" bitcoin as a commodity investment. 

The fact that spot requires trading the actual underlying will bring in a lot of volume. 

But because bitcoin's scarcity is a given the squezze feels like inevitable

[Bratnia]

3 hours ago, Bigmarc said:

You could arguably say that gold was stable until they introduced its first etf, then it been on the rise ever since. Google says the first gold etf was march 2003. 

Bitcoin may have an etf coming soon (I'm a little sceptical about it) so will be interesting to see what will happen. 

Gold didn't really move that much across 2003-2005, £223 to £243, less than a 10% increase.

A big up-step occurred due to the Financial Crisis (2008/9) and much QE'ing

Another step occurred due to Covid

Yet another step when gold was transitioned from being a Tier 3 to a Tier 1 asset (2021)

[Bratnia]

2 hours ago, n1k0s said:

An spot ETF will "legitimize" bitcoin as a commodity investment. 

The fact that spot requires trading the actual underlying will bring in a lot of volume. 

But because bitcoin's scarcity is a given the squezze feels like inevitable

Not sure how a spot based Btc ETF will be any better than a existing choice such as GBTC PV (US) data I would imagine that the expense ratio would be inclined to be higher for the spot based version, similar to how a spot Volatility fund is in effect too expensive such that instead Options/Futures are used instead.

[Bigmarc]

2 hours ago, Bratnia said:

Gold didn't really move that much across 2003-2005, £223 to £243, less than a 10% increase.

A big up-step occurred due to the Financial Crisis (2008/9) and much QE'ing

Another step occurred due to Covid

Yet another step when gold was transitioned from being a Tier 3 to a Tier 1 asset (2021)

Gold didn't move that much for hundreds of years before that and there is always a COVID or a financial crisis. 

It's a time line of new ways of getting institutional money into the market. 

[n1k0s]

3 hours ago, Bratnia said:

Not sure how a spot based Btc ETF will be any better than a existing choice such as GBTC PV (US) data I would imagine that the expense ratio would be inclined to be higher for the spot based version, similar to how a spot Volatility fund is in effect too expensive such that instead Options/Futures are used instead.

GBTC is not an ETF. It is a fund that has exceptionally high management fees.

These fees is the factor leading to the discount to NAV.

But in the absence of a true ETF it is a good "poor man's solution". So, is microstrategy which is neither a fund nor an etf, but just a company making BI and software but holding in their treasury 120k+ bitcoin. 

An ETF would be closer to fair value to all these. 

[n1k0s]

3 hours ago, Bratnia said:

Gold didn't really move that much across 2003-2005, £223 to £243, less than a 10% increase.

A big up-step occurred due to the Financial Crisis (2008/9) and much QE'ing

Another step occurred due to Covid

Yet another step when gold was transitioned from being a Tier 3 to a Tier 1 asset (2021)

90% of the big moves happen in 1% of the time. 

Therefore you never know when the big moves will happen, if you try to time it you may easily miss it, so it is better to just keep on DCAing and stacking. 

[Bratnia]

2 hours ago, Bigmarc said:

Gold didn't move that much for hundreds of years

It was money, gold Sovereign One Pound coins, alongside silver Shillings, copper pennies. Gold in being finite had inflation broadly average 0% for 100+ years. Investors wouldn't keep their money (gold) at home, but deposit it in return for interest, where that interest was in effect a real rate of return. For international trade, price stability, multiple countries pegged to gold, so traders knew that a whatever would remain at the same price (cost the same amount of gold) from month to month. That ended in 1931 when the free market for gold and the pegged gold price drifted to where you could arbitrage. Convert Pound paper currency into gold as banks were legally bound to do and sell the gold for a higher price. In September 1931 Parliament rushed through legislation within hours in order to end convertibility or otherwise the country would have run out of gold. Fiat currency Pounds were born, where anyone who had previously deposited their gold (money) into banks, were paid out in paper Pound note currency. The US followed that lead when in 1934 all of Americans investment gold as nationalised and locked up in Fort Knox (fiat Dollar birth).

1717 to 1899 and the price of gold pretty much remained at around £4.25/ounce. Over that entire period annualised inflation was 0.17%. Primarily the Pound was the major international trade/reserve currency. From the late 1800's that started to break-down and then WW1 pretty much bankrupted the country, Multiple currencies/instead started to used for international trade, de-globalisation of sorts, similar to what now the US dollar is starting to see.

Transitioned from broad price stability/no inflation, and where the state/crown had to pay to borrow, to where there's been predominately just inflation (Pound devaluation) that combined with taxation broadly means its free for the state/crown to borrow. As it has no need to borrow, when it can instead just print and spent money. Gilts are still sold as largely pension funds buy them and the state can in effect raid those pots by directing inflation and taxation.

[Bratnia]

49 minutes ago, n1k0s said:

90% of the big moves happen in 1% of the time. 

Therefore you never know when the big moves will happen, if you try to time it you may easily miss it, so it is better to just keep on DCAing and stacking. 

Very much a step/plateau price asset. Can involve the need for great patience that many simply don't have, decades such as 1980 to 1999. Those that blend it with stocks and periodically rebalance can accumulate a mountain of gold, that sooner or later sees a sizeable set up. IIRC 50/50 stock/gold held over 1980 to 1999 saw a gold stack increase 6 fold, six times more ounces in your safe at the end of 1999 compared to 1980, without having added a additional penny in savings.