Good morning, GoldBuzzers.

Yesterday reminded us how quickly things can change. As we navigate both market volatility and challenging times, I'm grateful for this community we're building together.

As the gold rally continues, steady hands often prevail in uncertain times.

In this week’s Real Talk: London just made a move that could bring gold to the smartphone generation - and that could be very significant in the future.

Let's dive in.

Gold glimmered its way to nearly another all-time high at $3,639 per ounce, after tagging fresh highs early in the session. Markets grabbed their morning caffeine from an unexpected U.S. producer price index (PPI) drop. The headline PPI fell 0.1% in August despite forecasts for a solid rise. Savvy traders are now pricing in an 80%+ chance of a Fed rate cut at next week’s meeting, and expecting the doves to fly a bit longer if numbers keep sliding.

With the next consumer inflation data dropping today, gold watchers are waiting to see if this disinflation story gets another chapter. The rush to safety isn’t just about the Fed: President Trump pressed the EU for 100% tariffs on China and India to ratchet up pressure over Ukraine, while fighting flared further in the Middle East and Poland said it brought down Russian drones over its airspace. Plenty of drama for gold’s perennial “fear trade.”

Between softer inflation vibes and a world on edge, gold is flexing its safe-haven muscle and traders are betting there’s still more room to run before gold takes a breather.

So the gold market back in my old hometown of London is going digital. Now that's progress. Or is it? Let’s take a look

The $930 billion London gold market is launching a trial of digital gold tokens next year. They're calling them Pooled Gold Interest tokens, and they're backed by actual gold bars sitting in London vaults.

Basically, they're digitizing one of the world's oldest markets.

What This Actually Means

These tokens let you buy pieces of 400-ounce gold bars. Before this, you needed serious money to get into London's wholesale gold game. Now regular investors might actually own chunks of these huge bars through digital tokens that legally prove you own real gold.

The World Gold Council wants to compete with crypto and gold-backed stablecoins, which already have over $2.5 billion floating around.

Why Now Though

Central banks bought 1,086 tonnes of gold last year, the third consecutive year of unprecedented purchases of more than 1,000 tonnes (see The Gold Awakening for more detail.)

When the people who print money keep buying gold like crazy, maybe it's time to make gold easier to buy for everyone else.

Traditional gold trading is getting squeezed by digital stuff. Gold-backed stablecoins demonstrate that there’s a real demand for “digital gold.” So London figured they better digitize before they lose business to crypto platforms.

The Skepticism Is Real

Not everyone is convinced this solves an actual problem.

"Gold is already the best performing asset class over the long run," said Adrian Ash, director of research at BullionVault. "This feels like a solution in search of a problem."

I get why people are skeptical. You could argue that Gold worked fine for thousands of years without being digital. Is this actually making things better or just more complicated?

What I'm Thinking

The trial next year will have big banks and trading firms testing this out. We'll actually see if digital gold tokens work better without losing what makes gold trustworthy.

I'm not saying this changes everything overnight. But when a $930 billion market goes digital, that tells you something about where things are heading.

The part that most interests me is that regular people will be able to get easy access to the bullion markets. If these tokens actually let smaller investors into London's wholesale market with real ownership, that's pretty big.

The Gen Z Factor

Think about younger investors who grew up buying crypto, trading on apps, and never touching physical anything. Gold always felt like something their grandparents talked about. Too old school, too complicated, too... analog.

But digital gold tokens? That's their language.

These investors already understand tokenization, digital wallets, and fractional ownership from crypto. Now they can apply that same mindset to an asset that's been around for 5,000 years. It's like gold finally learned to speak millennial.

If London pulls this off, they might crack the code on getting younger money into gold. And considering how much wealth is moving to younger generations, that's not a small thing.

A quick roundup of stories you might have missed:

Central banks are hoarding gold like doomsday preppers – The People's Bank of China increased its gold holdings in August for a 10th month, while Poland's been buying 49 tons per quarter in what looks like the world's most expensive shopping spree. Bloomberg

Gold sprinted to a fresh record (peaking at $3,673.95/oz) as Fed-cut hopes, central-bank purchases and a weak dollar sent safe-haven bets into overdrive. Reuters

Goldman warns that if the Fed’s independence gets seriously compromised, a panic flight into gold could push prices far beyond base targets ($4k–$5k scenarios.) Reuters

Gold miners are printing money faster than the Fed ever could – With gold hitting record highs, Agnico Eagle Mines becomes the world’s second largest following strong performances across its Canadian mines. Mining.com

Physically-backed gold ETFs keep scooping metal and August inflows extended the streak as ETF holdings remain a huge chunk of the demand story this year. World Gold Council

Scottish man discovers gold coin while fixing his fence - Craig Smith, was repairing a fence at his home in Linlithgow earlier this year, when he spotted the 700 year old rare coin buried in the soil! Greek Reporter

That’s a Thursday wrap, folks! See you on Sunday.

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Rick Adams
Founder, GoldBuzz
rick@goldbuzz.com