Quick overview

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Switzerland has about 370,000 nuclear bunkers left over from the Cold War, which are rarely used. However, one of them is currently bustling with activity. The cryptocurrency giant Tether Holdings SA owns a high-security vault that receives over a ton of gold each week. It is now the largest known gold reserve outside of banks and governments.

The recent surge in gold prices above $5,100 an ounce is mainly driven by mutual distrust between the crypto and gold industries toward government debt.

Over the past year, Tether has quietly become a significant player in the global gold market. Still, little is known about its internal operations or gold strategy. When two top gold traders left HSBC Holdings Plc last year, industry insiders speculated about where they might go.

Paolo Ardoino, the company’s CEO, compared its role in the gold market to that of a central bank and predicted that Washington’s geopolitical rivals would introduce a dollar alternative backed by gold. He revealed plans to keep investing profits into gold and to challenge banks in the metal’s trading.

The recent jump in the yen, as traders expected possible intervention by Japanese officials to support their currency, contributed to some of the dollar’s decline. Additionally, Trump’s unpredictable policies—such as threatening to seize Greenland, pressuring the Federal Reserve, implementing tax cuts that increased the deficit, and his polarized leadership style—have also weakened the dollar.

Despite rising government bond yields and expectations that the Fed will halt interest rate cuts this week, the dollar continues to fall. Trump has made it clear he wants lower interest rates, which would further decrease the dollar’s value. As a result, gold prices have hit all-time highs, attracting investors to alternative stores of value like gold.