This article was first published in Marc Faber’s Gloom, Boom & Doom Report.
The Shock That Signals a Shift
At the 2025 BRICS Summit, behind the photo-ops and unity declarations, one initiative stood out: China’s global gold vault network.
This is not theory — it is happening. When I explained this to Jim Rogers in Singapore, his immediate response was blunt: “I’m shocked.” Not shocked by the idea, he’s long expected it, but by the fact that after years of speculation, the long-discussed build-out of a gold-based system is finally underway.
As a regular reader of Goldfix research (the work of 30-year Fund manager Vincent Lanci), I had already traced the outlines of this shift. His analysis highlighted the scaffolding of BRICS’ gold-backed architecture and provided a critical lens for connecting the pieces as they emerged.
Veteran strategist Simon Hunt confirmed these observations. He pointed to projects already advancing in the Middle East: preparations for vaults, bullion infrastructure, and gold-backed financing moving in parallel to energy and trade agreements. This is not a debate on possibilities, it is the build-out of a monetary alternative, brick by brick.
In Kuala Lumpur, I attended the launch of an independent vault, not part of China’s official network, but emblematic of the same momentum. The presence of bankers, regulators, and global institutions underscored the fact: gold infrastructure in the region is moving from whispers to reality.
All of these scenes point to the early scaffolding of what may one day be remembered as Bretton Woods 3.0, what Credit Suisse’s Zoltan Pozsar famously described as the birth of a new commodity-backed order. A successor to the original postwar gold–dollar system and the later ‘Bretton Woods II’ debt cycle, today BRICS is attempting something new: using gold infrastructure not just for trade settlement, but as the backbone of a multipolar monetary order beyond the dollar.
China’s Strategy: Building the Vault Network
China’s long-term homework from the BRICS platform, internationalizing the yuan, is entering a bold new phase: anchoring RMB in gold through a global vault network.
Hong Kong as the Proof Point
The strategy is already in motion. On June 26, 2025, the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) officially opened its first offshore delivery vault in Hong Kong, operated by Bank of China (Hong Kong). Two HK-delivery contracts were launched, and spot trades cleared on day one.
This is not speculation — the data proves it. China’s on-warrant gold stock has surged exponentially since 2023, rising from a historically flat base to nearly 40,000 kilograms by mid-2025. This visual inflection point mirrors the vault launches in Hong Kong and beyond, turning infrastructure from plan to reality.
This is the clearest signal yet: China’s gold infrastructure is no longer a blueprint, it is a build-out. Hong Kong proves China can operate international vaults.
In fact, recent reporting by Bloomberg shows the People’s Bank of China is now proposing to ease licensing rules for gold imports and exports, expanding ‘multi-use permits’ and extending their validity. This regulatory shift directly supports the physical build-out of China’s vault network and signals Beijing’s determination to accelerate bullion mobility.
Saudi Arabia – Energy Turns to Gold
The next step is Saudi Arabia. Beijing is preparing to establish a Shanghai Gold Exchange International (SGEI) vault in the Kingdom. This would be the core hub, enabling RMB-gold conversions tied directly to oil and energy flows.
The trade backdrop is massive: Saudi exports to China stood around US$57–58 billion in 2024, mostly oil. Today, RMB usage in settlement is small but growing. Saudi Arabia has joined Project mBridge, the multi-CBDC platform, signaling willingness to experiment with non-dollar settlement. Over time, these efforts intersect with yuan-denominated gold pricing, what Shanghai calls “Shanghai Gold.”
If Hong Kong is proof of concept, Saudi Arabia is the strategic prize. Gold settlement at the center of energy trade would be a game-changer.
Parallel to the vault expansion is the steady rise of the yuan in cross-border settlement. As the chart shows, yuan-denominated inbound payments have surged from near-zero in 2010 to over half of total flows by 2025. This monetary foothold dovetails with gold-backed infrastructure, signaling a two-pronged push: RMB adoption in trade, secured by bullion credibility.
Southeast Asia – Building the Corridor
Vaults in Singapore and Malaysia form the second pillar of China’s plan.
Trade scale: China–ASEAN trade reached roughly US$960–980 billion in 2024.
Investor demand: According to the World Gold Council, gold investment demand across ASEAN hit multi-year highs in 2024, even as jewelry demand softened on higher prices.
Infrastructure: Independent vaults, like the one I saw in Kuala Lumpur, signal that local institutions are preparing for deeper integration into China’s RMB-gold network.
In short, Southeast Asia is positioning itself as a regional bridge, where retail investment and institutional storage reinforce the broader strategy.
Middle East & Africa – Extending the Network
Dubai, once a competitor to Shanghai, is now collaborating through shared market infrastructure. Since 2017, the Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange has listed a yuan-denominated “Shanghai Gold” futures contract. This RMB benchmark sits alongside the dollar benchmarks, giving the region a direct link to China’s pricing power.
The pieces are now visible: RMB gold pricing, offshore vaults, cross-border settlement rails. Africa may be next. Belt and Road projects already experiment with resource-backed financing; gold could soon become collateral for infrastructure and energy investments.
Together, these elements form the early architecture of a “Golden Corridor” , stretching from Saudi Arabia through Southeast Asia into Africa.
OMFIF Projections & Reserve Shifts
Independent forecasters such as OMFIF project that the RMB’s share of global reserves could roughly triple to around 6% over the next decade. On its own, that may not be system-changing. But with new gold-anchored infrastructure, the trajectory of dedollarization accelerates.
This is not simply about reserve percentages. It is about the architecture of trust. If gold becomes the backbone of RMB internationalization, it reshapes the balance of settlement power in commodities and finance.
Six Key Takeaways
Gold as RMB Anchor – Bullion becomes the foundation of yuan internationalization.
Pricing Power Shift – RMB contracts challenge the dollar’s monopoly in gold pricing.
Localized Trust – Offshore vaults build credibility among BRICS and beyond.
Collateral Backbone – Gold increasingly serves as security for loans and financing.
Vault Network Expansion – Belt and Road turns increasingly gold-backed.
Re-globalization by Trust – Tangible assets reassert themselves in a multipolar order.
Closing Reflection
From Jim Rogers’ shock in Singapore, to Vincent Lanci’s insights, to Simon Hunt’s confirmation of rollouts, to my own observations at the Kuala Lumpur vault, the conclusion is unavoidable: gold’s remonetization is no longer theory.
History is repeating itself. Every empire that abandoned sound money, Rome with its debased denarius, Weimar with its paper mark, Britain with its postwar pound, paid the price of decline. The U.S. dollar, unmoored from gold since 1971, now faces the same fate. What BRICS is constructing is not simply infrastructure; it is the scaffolding for a post-dollar order.
Western policymakers remain blind. While Washington drowns in deficits and Brussels obsesses over regulations, Beijing and Riyadh are laying the bricks of a parallel system, vault by vault, contract by contract. The irony is bitter: the very asset dismissed by Western academics as a “barbarous relic” is being weaponized to build the monetary architecture of the future.
Marc Faber has long warned of this. In a recent interview, he said he could envision going “all in” on gold, a statement less about speculation than prudence. In a world where central banks can conjure trillions from nothing, gold alone is immune to political whim and monetary illusion.
Bill Bonner captured it perfectly:
“Had the US stuck with gold-backed currency, trade deficits would have had to be settled in gold. And since the US can’t ‘print’ gold, the imbalances would have been rectified a long time ago.”
BRICS is reviving that principle, on a multipolar stage.
For investors, the lesson is urgent. The vault doors are opening. The only question is whether you will be inside holding real wealth, or outside watching your paper assets wither.
Gold is not optional. It is existential.
Jan Baltensweiler, jan.baltensweiler@vongreyerz.gold, +41 44 213 62 45 VON GREYERZ AG has earned the trust of HNWIs and investors in over 90 countries, specializing in the secure, fully segregated, unhypothecated, unencumbered, and insured storage of physical gold—entirely outside the banking system.