In our previous article, “From Dirt to Fortune: The Mining Cycle,” we explored how raw earth transforms into one of humanity’s most enduring stores of value — and how fortunes are created along the mining lifecycle. That journey from ground to gold bar is now intersecting with something even larger: a global monetary repricing of gold itself.
2025 will be remembered as the year gold reasserted its role not merely as a commodity, but as a strategic monetary asset.
Prices surged more than 60% over the past year, breaking historic highs. Yet the chart only tells part of the story. Beneath the surface, deep structural forces are reshaping global capital flows — forces that suggest gold’s real move is only beginning as we enter 2026.
Three Engines Behind Gold’s 2025 Breakout
Central Bank Accumulation
Since 2010, global central banks have remained consistent net buyers of gold. This quiet accumulation has placed a structural floor under prices while steadily absorbing new supply.
Geopolitical Fragmentation
From Eastern Europe to shifting Global South alliances, sovereign tensions have reminded markets that financial systems can be weaponized. Gold remains the only globally recognized reserve asset without counterparty risk.
Monetary Easing Cycles
Multiple Federal Reserve rate cuts in 2025 revived liquidity expectations. As real yields compress and sovereign debt expands, the opportunity cost of holding gold continues to fall.
Together, these forces carried gold to record highs. But the next phase of the move may prove far more powerful.
Supply Constraints Meet Relentless Demand
Mining output has remained essentially flat for six consecutive years. New discoveries are rarer, extraction costs are rising, and permitting timelines are lengthening. Supply growth is struggling to keep pace with expanding demand.
When constrained supply meets accelerating demand, repricing becomes inevitable.
BRICS, Sanctions, and the Return of Gold Reserves
Russia’s ability to withstand Western financial sanctions by holding a significant share of reserves in physical gold has not gone unnoticed. BRICS nations and other emerging economies are now accelerating gold accumulation to reduce reliance on dollar-based systems.
Gold is quietly re-entering the global reserve strategy.
Tokenized Gold: A New Structural Demand Engine
A powerful and still underappreciated force is emerging at the intersection of crypto and commodities: digitally tokenized gold.
Blockchain-based gold instruments now allow investors to hold physical gold with instant settlement, global liquidity, and no storage friction — dramatically expanding access to gold ownership.
Tether has become the clear leader in this space. Its gold-backed token, XAUt, has grown to a $2.2 billion market capitalization, directly tied to the price of gold. Each token represents allocated physical gold held in custody. This effectively makes Tether one of the largest buy-and-hold gold investors in the world, with its gold permanently removed from active market circulation.
As real-world assets continue migrating onto blockchain rails, tokenized gold is onboarding a new generation of digital-native investors — while quietly tightening physical supply.
Why the Next Move Accelerates
Gold’s price advances appear gradual — until suddenly they are not.
Each $1,000 increase represents the same absolute gain, but a smaller percentage move from a higher base. This mathematical dynamic explains why gold bull markets often accelerate in later stages.
A move toward $5,000 in 2026 is increasingly plausible. Beyond that, the path to significantly higher levels becomes structurally easier.
Gold’s Role in a Fractured Financial Order
In a world of programmable money, tokenized assets, and geopolitical fragmentation, trust has become the scarcest commodity in finance.
Gold remains the only monetary asset without an issuer.
That neutrality is becoming priceless.
The Window Remains Open
Despite recent gains, global portfolios remain structurally underallocated to gold. Historically, the largest gains occur during the recognition phase — when institutional and retail investors simultaneously rebalance.
That phase is approaching.
The gold bull market did not end in 2025.
It revealed itself.