The gold bull-market has a dirty secret

People are frequently critical of the energy footprint of Bitcoin. It is important to remember that Gold has a footprint too.

The gangs’ involvement is spurring violence and helping to prop up autocrats. Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s dictator, gives the army a free hand to work with gold-mining mafias in return for political loyalty. Colombia’s biggest gold mine, Buriticá, is the site of a stand-off between its Chinese operator and 2,000 miners linked to the Gulf Clan, a gang that stole $200m worth of the glittering ore from Buriticá’s tunnels last year. Since 2019 some 18 miners have died there. After a recent government crackdown in Bolívar, an illegal-mining hotspot in northern Colombia, the clan retaliated, killing more than 20 soldiers and policemen. Last month gunmen in Ecuador killed 11 soldiers during an operation to shut down an illegal mine.

I suspect every currency or store of value has externalities and costs.