This year is highly likely to be a year of changes for the investment gold market in Russia: the Ministry of Finance will assess the feasibility of VAT exemption on investment gold, the State Duma will consider a bill to allow citizens to purchase precious metals in individual investment accounts, and the Central Bank will make changes to its pricing policy when conducting its market operations.

Russia’s gold reserves rose by 9 tons in July, increasing the value of the bullion holdings by 1.64% to a hefty $101.923 billion (€92 billion), as of August 1.

There’s a powerful constant amid the to-and-fro of the U.S.-China trade war as currency policy gets dragged into the standoff between the world’s two top economies: Beijing wants more gold in its reserves.

Gold demand was 1,123t in Q2, up 8% y-o-y. H1 demand jumped to a three-year high of 2,181.7t, largely due to record-breaking central bank purchases.

European central banks have decided not to extend a 20-year-old agreement to coordinate their gold sales, noting that they have no plans to sell large amounts of the metal.

Hedge fund kingpin Ray Dalio is seeing a case for gold as central banks get more aggressive with policies that devalue currencies and are about to cause a “paradigm shift” in investing.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told Congress on Wednesday that he doesn’t think a return to the gold standard in the U.S. would be a good idea.

The People’s Bank of China said Monday it raised reserves for a seventh month in June, adding 10.3 tons, following the inflow of almost 74 tons in the six months through May.

National Bank of Poland (NBP) gold reserves have risen by 125.7 tonnes to 228.6 tonnes, the bank announced on Friday.

Judy Shelton, who serves as the U.S. executive director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, wrote as recently as last year in support of pegging the dollar to gold prices.

Having tested $1300 numerous times over the past few years, gold has broken dramatically higher in the last month, hitting 6-year highs as President Trump rhetoric around the world raises tensions and increases the odds of WWIII.

On Tuesday after the close, the CFTC announced that Merrill Lynch Commodities (MLCI), a global commodities trading business, agreed to pay $25 million to resolve the government’s investigation into a multi-year scheme by MLCI precious metals traders to mislead the market for precious metals futures contracts traded on the COMEX.

“Shanghai Gold will change the current gold market with its ‘consumed in the East but priced in the West’ arrangement. When China has the right to speak in the international gold market, the true price of gold will be revealed.” – Xu Luode, Chairman, Shanghai Gold Exchange, 15 May 2014

The global monetary regime has collapsed three times over the past 100 years, in 1914, 1939, and 1971. They seem to happen about every 30 to 40 years on average. It’s now been over 40 years since the last collapse, so we’re due. Got gold?

China extended its gold-buying spree, adding to reserves for a sixth straight month, as the protracted trade war with the U.S. hurts growth expectations and boosts demand for a portfolio diversifier.

Venezuela has defaulted on a gold swap agreement valued at $750 million with Deutsche Bank AG, prompting the lender to take control of the precious metal which was used as collateral and close out the contract.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Thursday proposed to create a new “special currency” for the region based on gold, replacing the existing currency trading regime.

Two more nations, Serbia and the Philippines, have boosted their national gold reserves. They follow a global trend of other central banks accumulating bullion in a move seen as a shift away from the US dollar standard.

Charts are suggesting that gold and silver are close to completing giant bottoming patterns that started to form (in the case of gold) as far back as 2013.

The central banks of Russia and China helped drive a 7% increase in global gold demand in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to the World Gold Council, as they continued efforts to trim their exposure to US dollars.