Central banks rebuilding gold reserves

Peter Grosskopf — former CEO of Sprott and co-founder of Argo — joins Scarce Assets to unpack why gold has been the runaway winner of 2025 and what that says about debt, inflation, and the end of “risk-free” bonds.

Argo // SCP Resource Finance

Connect with Onramp // Onramp Institutional // ⁠Jackson Mikalic on X⁠

WHAT WE COVER:

- How gold became 2025’s top-performing major asset while “nothing was really wrong”

- Central bank de-dollarization: SWIFT sanctions, exploding US deficits, and reserve rebalancing

- Why gold is quietly replacing Treasuries as the global “safe asset”

- The debasement trade: protecting purchasing power when CPI underreports reality

- Peter’s personal allocation: ~50% in gold, silver, Argo balances, and miners

- Liquidity, QT’s end, and why the Fed’s balance sheet likely has to grow again

- Inside Argo: 24/7 direct-to-vault gold, outside the financial system, at ETF-beating costs

- Tokenized gold (Tether, Pax) and why custody, vaults, and bankruptcy remoteness matter

KEY INSIGHTS:

- Gold’s 2025 move isn’t about a single crisis — it’s decades of debasement risk finally being priced in

- Central banks aren’t just “adding diversification”; they’re hedging both sanctions and US fiscal decay

- For Peter, gold is no longer a hedge against dollars — it’s the base unit of savings

- Official inflation at 2–3% doesn’t match lived experience; the real erosion feels closer to 5–7% with violent spikes

- Treasuries are losing their status as the default safe haven; gold is stepping into that role

- Bitcoin is still digesting leverage and maturing from a speculative tech trade into a long-horizon macro asset

- Direct-to-vault and tokenized gold will sit at the core of the next monetary plumbing stack

PETER’S THESIS: “Gold isn’t just a crisis hedge anymore. It’s the base case. The real experiment is trying to run this level of debt on fiat and calling it ‘risk-free.’”

WHO IS PETER GROSSKOPF?

- Co-Founder — Argo, a digital platform for direct-to-vault physical gold

- Former CEO — Sprott (2010–2022), leading one of the world’s premier precious metals firms

- Managing Partner — SCP Resource Finance, focused on mining and real asset finance

- 35+ Years in Financial Services — spanning trading, asset management, and capital markets

- Lifelong precious metals investor now bridging vaulted gold with modern digital rails

CHAPTERS:

00:00 - Gold’s Shock 2025 Rally & Peter’s Background

07:25 - Why Central Banks Are Rebuilding Gold Reserves

14:20 - From 60/40 to Gold: Institutional Reallocation

20:06 - Gold as the New “Safe Asset” Replacing Treasuries

29:45 - Bitcoin vs Gold in 2025: Cycles, Leverage & Liquidity

41:48 - Inside Argo: Direct-to-Vault Gold in the Digital Era

50:04 - Tokenized Gold vs Direct Vault Ownership & Custody Risks

54:40 - Key Takeaways, Where to Learn More & Outro

Scarce Assets: a biweekly podcast presented by Onramp which delves into the emergent role of bitcoin in finance professionals' strategies and outlooks. Hosted by Jackson Mikalic, Scarce Assets provides invaluable insights for wealth managers aiming to outperform their peers in the decades ahead. Finance professionals everywhere know about stocks and bonds, but the macroeconomic outlook requires that serious investors pay close attention to another category: Scarce Assets.Please subscribe to Onramp Media channels and sign up for weekly Research & Analysis to get access to the best content in the ecosystem weekly.