Reset Intelligence: Are Gold-Backed Currencies Coming?
By Reset Intelligence | @EXIT_FIAT
The economist who has argued for 30 years that the dollar should be tied to gold again is now counselor to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Her best-known proposal is a Treasury bond that pays back in dollars or in a fixed weight of gold.
The same week, a fresh shipment of cash dollars from the New York Fed landed in Baghdad, and Bessent told Iraq’s Foreign Minister what Washington expects next.
The appointment
Her name is Judy Shelton. Trump picked her for the Federal Reserve’s board in 2019, and the Senate stalled her in November 2020 on a vote of 47 to 50. The idea she is known for is the Treasury Trust Bond. It pays no interest along the way. At maturity the holder chooses: the face value in dollars, or a weight of gold fixed on the day the bond was sold. She has written that other countries, and the European Central Bank, could issue gold-redeemable debt of their own. She joins the Treasury as the 10-year yield touched 5.33% on Thursday, its highest since 2002.
Everything else that moved
- The buyers – Poland added 82 tonnes of gold in the first 6 months of this year. China’s central bank has bought for 22 months in a row. In a survey of 76 central banks, 89% said they expect official gold holdings to keep rising. Gold has passed US Treasuries as the largest asset in foreign official reserves, something not seen since 1996.
- Iraq’s gold – the Central Bank of Iraq holds about 175 tonnes, roughly a quarter of its reserves and the third-largest holding in the Arab world. On Thursday its governor, Nizar Nasser Hussein, was elected deputy chair of the council of Arab central bank governors.
- The dollars – a new shipment of cash dollars from the New York Fed arrived in Iraq on Wednesday, the government’s spokesman confirmed. On Thursday Bessent met Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein and “discussed the United States’ expectations for Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s reforms.” The Treasury called it “a frank discussion.”
- The street – the dollar closed Thursday at 157,300 IQD per $100 in Baghdad, against the official 131,000. The central bank’s foreign currency sales are down 34.5% in the first 8 months of this year.
- The holdout – Kataib Hezbollah’s leader said “the resistance has won this round.” Prime Minister al-Zaidi answered that the state alone decides war and peace, and announced that Iraq will buy a national air defense system.
- Tehran – Iran loaded no crude onto tankers in September, Bessent said. A third American aircraft carrier is on its way to the region. Brent settled at $103.50 and gold closed near $4,182.
The question
Our theory is that every currency is heading back to hard assets, the IQD included. A dollar tied to gold changes what every currency priced in dollars has to prove, and Iraq is sitting on gold and oil.
That is the short version. Why the world’s central banks have been buying, what a gold-linked dollar would mean for the IQD, and the promise America took out of its own bonds in 1933 – that is the daily read.
Read the full daily briefing free for 5 days. Sign up here: the daily Iraqi dinar briefing
Want it straight from the horse’s mouth? The CBI Rate Alert pings you the moment the Central Bank of Iraq moves the official rate. The number itself, not a rumour about it. It comes with our free resource library and the daily breakdown of what is actually moving in Iraq. Sign up free: The CBI Rate Alert
Got a dinar question? Reset Intelligence runs an on-call research assistant: ask it anything they have published. It answers in seconds and will conduct deep research to find you the answer. Try it: the Iraqi dinar research assistant
Common questions, answered straight: When will the Iraqi dinar revalue? and Is the Iraqi dinar revaluation real?
The design behind all of it is mapped in Head of the Snake, and the free guides live in the Iraqi dinar resource library.
Follow the daily intel free: Telegram · Facebook · Spotify · Odysee
