Unchained Ex-Citi Chief Economist on Gold, Bitcoin and the Debasement of the US Dollar - Ep. 935
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Oct 30, 2025 
Willem Buiter, former Global Chief Economist at Citigroup, dives into the future of money. He argues that gold's long-standing bubble is about to burst and advocates for central banks to rethink bullion holdings. Buiter decries Bitcoin's reliability as a store of value while promoting fully backed stablecoins and CBDCs as pivotal for the next monetary era. He discusses the implications of tokenized deposits, the influence of political pressure on the Fed, and forecasts a future filled with diverse stablecoins.
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Gold's Value Is Mostly Belief
- Gold's high price rests mainly on collective belief in its store-of-value role rather than intrinsic utility.
- Willem Buiter calls central-bank gold reserves a risky, history-driven bet that should be diversified into real and financial assets.
Replace Gold With Diversified Assets
- Sell central-bank gold holdings and reinvest proceeds into a diversified portfolio of real and financial assets.
- Prioritize diversification to protect taxpayers rather than parking trillions in a fragile commodity.
Longevity Doesn't Disprove A Bubble
- Bubbles can persist for extremely long periods with ups and downs, so longevity doesn't invalidate bubble diagnosis.
- Gold may continue as a long-lived belief-driven asset even if its bubble nature remains intact.