by Chris Marcus, Gold and Silver Daily:
We’re finally just one week away from the start of the 2024 BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia. A meeting that, especially in the gold and silver community, might be an even more anticipated event than last year’s summit.
Of course, there was a fair amount of buzz surrounding the 2023 meeting that took place in August, that largely started with a Jim Rickards proclamation on July 18 of last year that stated:
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“A new BRICS gold-linked currency will be announced on Aug. 22 at the BRICS Leader’s Summit conference in Durban, South Africa.”
Ultimately, there did not end up being any formal announcement at last year’s meeting. Although that doesn’t entirely mean that there haven’t been discussions about such an idea, especially in the time since that meeting took place.
I was actually contacted back in February by Matt Riley of EF Bullion, who referenced a whitepaper that proposed a concept called ‘The Unit,’ that would include a basket of currencies and a 40% gold-backing.
Matt felt that this was actually the plan the BRICS were moving forward to continue their de-dollarization agenda (he explains in detail why in this video), and that the gold price would be forced to respond to what was coming.
Keep in mind that this was back when the gold price was still between $2,000 and $2,100.
Then in May, reporter Pepe Escobar (who many feel is given information that the Russian government wants to broadcast publicly) put out an article confirming much of what Matt had said in February (two other relevant Escobar updates for those seeking the background can be found here and here).
There have also been reports from the Tass Russian news agency referencing that the Unit would be a topic of discussion. As well as commentary from Putin himself, who recently mentioned that “we’re working on shaping an independent payment system, free from political pressure, abuse, and external sanction or interference.”
So now with the meeting only a week away, someone recently asked me if I think there will be a formal announcement, whether they will actually launch the Unit, and whether it will impact the gold price.
To be clear, obviously the BRICS officials haven’t yet stated whether they plan any official commentary beyond what Putin has already said. So there’s a large degree to which we can only make some educated guesses at this point.
Yet with that said, what I see as the most likely outcome is that by the time that the meetings have concluded, we will see more comments like Putin’s, or comments similar to what Russian economist Sergey Glazyev, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Minister of Integration and Macroeconomics of the Eurasia Economic Union, mentioned earlier this year:
“I have been following the development of Unit for more than a year and can confirm that Unit offers a very timely, feasible solution. It is academically sound, technologically innovative and at the same time complementary to the existing banking infrastructure.
Launching it under the auspices of a UN institution gives Unit legitimacy, which the current Bretton Woods framework is clearly lacking. Recent actions by the US administration and loud silence from the IMF clearly indicate the need for change.
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