Daily Dispatches

Venezuelan Central Bank Gold Reserves Fall as Maduro Seeks Cash

From Reuters
Tuesday, September 7, 2021

CARACAS -- Venezuela's gold reserves fell by 3 tonnes in the first half of 2021 to their lowest level in 50 years, central bank data showed today, as President Nicolas Maduro's cash-strapped government continues selling gold as a source of income.

The withdrawals in the first six months of the year brought total reserves to 83 tonnes. The once-prosperous OPEC nation's economy is mired in a years-long collapse, starving the government of funds. 

By Naomi Rovnick and Martin Arnold
Financial Times, London
Tuesday, September 7, 2021

Investors in European junk bonds have begun accepting interest payments that are lower than eurozone inflation levels for the first time ever, in the latest sign that central banks' crisis-era debt purchases have shifted the balance between risk and reward.

... Dispatch continues below ...

Good Mining Exploration Resumes Search
for Gold at Golden Target Project in Ontario

By Virginia Lopez Glass
The New York Times
September 6, 2021

CARACAS, Venezuela -- A few years ago, Venezuela was experiencing such devastating food shortages that people stood for hours in lines just for a chance to buy basic staples. Venezuelans reported losing an average of 24 pounds in 2017. Today such hard times feel like a distant nightmare.

By Eric Lipton and Ephrat Livni
The New York Times
Sunday, September 5, 2021

BlockFi, a fast-growing financial start-up whose headquarters in Jersey City are across the Hudson River from Wall Street, aspires to be the JPMorgan Chase of cryptocurrency.

It offers credit cards, loans, and interest-generating accounts. But rather than dealing primarily in dollars, BlockFi operates in the rapidly expanding world of digital currencies, one of a new generation of institutions effectively creating an alternative banking system on the frontiers of technology.