Citizens in Germany...own over 8900 TONS of gold.

[Hitch]

That amounts to over 4 ounces owned, per adult person. Wow. Very good article with lots of stats on this.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-04-28/vast-gold-hoards-held-germanys-population

While the Chinese and Indian populations are well known for their insatiable appetite for importing, buying and hoarding physical gold, there is one market in the West that does likewise but which flies under the radar slightly, garnering less attention than China and India. That gold market is Germany.

Although German citizens are known for their fondness for holding gold, the vast size of the German population’s gold holdings was clarified recently in a newly published survey commissioned by Reisebank, a bank active in the German precious metals market.

The survey, conducted by the Research Center for Financial Services (CFIN) on behalf of Reisebank, found that German adults currently own a staggering 8918 tonnes of gold, worth about € 330 billion at current Euro gold prices. Note, this figure is gold held by private citizens in Germany and does not include the gold reserves of the German central bank, the Bundesbank, which amount to an additional 3370 tonnes.

[Horn]

While that may be true, few hold any of it.

What was Ponce signature?

[Neuro]

Now they just need to go full Hitler on the bankers and change their gold into silver...

[Horn]

Now they just need to go full Hitler on the bankers and change their gold into silver...

Today there is more a chance that Mexico would do that, and all allies hate them too.

[C.Martel]

While that may be true, few hold any of it.

What was Ponce signature?

Some Germans are known to stash 500 euro banknotes under their mattresses. Gold coins may be in the mix. ;)

[keehah]

One podcast was claiming some retail gold shops were closed in early January from lack of product to sell.

BullionStar: German Government Escalates its War on Gold (https://www.bullionstar.com/blogs/ronan-manly/german-government-escalates-its-war-on-gold/)

Date 13 Jan 2020
In the run up to the end of the year during December, a remarkable sight emerged across Germany – long lines of customers queuing up outside the country’s precious metals shops and gold dealer showrooms.

Was it seasonal gift buying by Germany’s citizens, a population well-known for its love of physical precious metals? Or perhaps the onset of panic about negative interest rates in Europe’s largest economy?

As it turns out, panic it was, but of a different type, with the long lines triggered by the realization that from 1 January 2020, new national legislation was to take effect that would dramatically reduce the threshold on anonymous buying of precious metals from the existing €10,000 limit to a far lower limit of €2000, all under the guise of money laundering prevention.... [it was €15,000 in 2017]

Kerstin Botschek, Branch Manager at Degussa in Cologne, explained the situation to German newspaper Die Welt in its 23 December “Legislative change creates queues in front of gold trading houses“:

“These long lines are are based on the lowering of the cash limit. 98.5 percent of customers want to buy gold for less than 10,000 euros without registering. Few are buying jewelry any other gift.”

The situation was similar at Pro Aurum in Munich which it documented on its website:

“Many Pro Aurum employees in Munich cannot believe their eyes…the line of waiting customers extends to the on the sidewalk in front of the building. In the freezing cold, people persevere to buy physical precious metals. You take everything that is still available with you – but the product range is shrinking day by day, because the demand is simply overwhelming.”

Bitcoin.com: Germans Rush to Buy Gold as Draft Bill Threatens to Restrict Purchases (https://news.bitcoin.com/germans-rush-to-buy-gold-as-draft-bill-threatens-to-restrict-purchases/)

After the new legislation takes effect, reports from German media (https://www.finanzen100.de/finanznachrichten/boerse/regierungsplan-deutsche-sollen-gold-nur-noch-bis-2000-euro-anonym-bekommen_H367056154_10916613/) state that purchases of the precious metal over €2,000 will now require customer identification for buyers, including criminal background checks for businesses.

The news outlet details:

If a dealer suspects, he must report his potential customer to the authorities. If a trader fails to adequately comply with these obligations, he may face severe fines.

[hoarder]

I think it's fake news.

[madfranks]

After the new legislation takes effect, reports from German media (https://www.finanzen100.de/finanznachrichten/boerse/regierungsplan-deutsche-sollen-gold-nur-noch-bis-2000-euro-anonym-bekommen_H367056154_10916613/) state that purchases of the precious metal over €2,000 will now require customer identification for buyers, including criminal background checks for businesses.The market for fractional gold just got bigger!