The 2025 Surge In Gold And Silver: Why It Matters For Expats

The first month of a new year is a good time to reflect on what worked and what we missed in the previous year. For me, 2025 was strong, and a meaningful part of that came from gold and silver. If you’ve been paying attention to what I’ve been saying, you likely benefited too, especially if you stayed in tangible assets and out of paper money.

If you didn’t position yourself in precious metals last year, the window hasn’t closed. The moves in gold and silver are far from over. We’re experiencing a longer-term trend driven by fundamentals. Those who view the surge in precious metals as a result of short-term panic will likely come to regret their decisions. 

The gold price continued its steady rise in 2025, rising from $2,600 USD to $3,400 USD. The silver price was even more remarkable, rising from roughly $30 USD to a peak of $83 USD. If you think that was just hype, you’re sorely mistaken. What we have been witnessing is a steady accumulation, a strong sign that significant capital is moving into gold and other precious metals. 

In this article, I’ll explain what’s really driving the move in precious metals and why I’m continuing to invest in gold and silver as we move into 2026.

As trust in governments and the global order erodes, more debt and dollar printing fuel inflation and geopolitical turmoil. In times like these, true protection is gold and other hard, tangible assets

CONFIDENCE EROSION IN GOVERNMENTS

Economists often attribute the rise in gold prices to inflation, central bank policies, or temporary geopolitical risks. However, if you’re a trader rather than an investor, you may miss the bigger picture behind real money, gold. Gold has been rising against the odds and has now broken through its resistance amid expectations of lower interest rates in the coming years. 

The deeper issue of our time is the erosion of confidence in the world order as we know it. The Western Bloc, led by the U.S., is no more. China is not stepping back in the face of American threats. Russia continues to play with the European Union and the United States. Developing countries openly express their discontent with the global balance of power. And in the middle of this significant conflict is the dominance of the U.S. dollar.  

In such unpredictable times, you must remember that fiat monetary systems only work as long as people believe that today’s money will roughly hold its value tomorrow. From Ukraine to the Middle East, from disruptions in Red Sea shipping routes to rising tensions around Taiwan, geopolitical instability is escalating into chaos. Amidst this turbulence, the first thing to remember is that the real alternative to the U.S. dollar is gold. 

The only thing you can trust governments with is that they will always choose to borrow more, print more, and promise that inflation is temporary. Moreover, as tensions between the superpowers rise, they will not hesitate to risk human lives and spark wars. It’s a vicious cycle that ends with ever larger wars and the collapse of the global order. In such stressful times, there’s only one sure way to store your wealth: in gold and other hard, tangible assets.

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China is quietly stockpiling precious metals to cut U.S. dollar exposure as trade and currency tensions rise. Silver’s surge isn’t just “catching up” — it reflects a structural shift plus strong industrial demand

CHINA AND THE QUIET ACCUMULATION

The star of the show wasn’t gold, despite its 65% rise in price last year. Silver outpaced gold’s surge, with an incredible 145% rise over one year. Silver is not only a precious metal with intrinsic value but also a raw material used across many economic sectors. 

However, none of these reasons explains the recent surge in silver prices. As the trade war, most probably the currency wars, keep rising in the world, China declared its decision to keep its silver reserves for itself. China’s move has sparked widespread speculation not only about rising tensions between China and the U.S. but also about the fracturing of the geopolitical order.  

With the long-term storage of large quantities of gold bullion by central banks, especially China and India, it is clear that the tide is slowly turning against the dollar. China has been accumulating precious metals with a single purpose: reducing its exposure to the U.S. dollar. In the near future, China and other developing countries will rely less on dollar reserves, enter into trade agreements outside the U.S. dollar, and continue to accumulate more real assets that are not subject to U.S. economic sanctions. 

In this context, silver’s recent move is significant. You would be fooling yourself if you assumed silver is just catching up to gold. That’s not the case here. Silver, whose price has been manipulated by the U.S. for many years, is responding to a structural geopolitical reality. This time, industrial demand is also driving the surge in silver. That’s why large players are positioning quietly and not speculating loudly.

WHY I DON’T TRUST PAPER ASSETS

I never trust paper assets. It’s not because I think markets will collapse tomorrow, but because I gave up on trusting the monetary system many years ago. Bonds, in particular, have lost their appeal entirely. When you adjust for inflation, most government bonds now offer a guaranteed loss in real terms. It’s almost insane to lend money to heavily indebted governments in currencies they are deliberately and continuously devaluing. That’s not investing; it's accepting the risk of losing money slowly.

Don’t believe that stocks are any better. Modern stock markets have drifted away from the real economy, become heavily leveraged, and grown increasingly political. Prices don’t rise because companies are more productive; they rise because liquidity keeps flowing. The narrative only works as long as central banks continue to print and intervene. Such a system cannot continue indefinitely. 

However, there is another serious problem regarding ownership of paper assets. With most of them, you don’t actually own anything tangible. What you hold is the claim rights on earnings and future cash flows. These rights remain valid as long as the system recognizes and enforces them. If governments legislate that everything is theirs to claim, you’ll end up with empty hands. 

That’s why it’s important to always keep some of your assets outside of the monetary system. While there are various tangible investments, precious metals meet liquidity needs without exposing you to financial or jurisdictional risks. They simply exist and hold intrinsic value. If an asset needs permission to exist, it isn’t really yours.

Related content: U.S. Stock Market Crash: What It Means For Investors And How To Respond

For expats, gold and silver aren’t trades — they’re long-term insurance. In a world of shifting currencies, laws, and politics, precious metals stay neutral, portable, globally recognized, and help hedge against inflation and crises

PRECIOUS METALS: A LONG-TERM HEDGE FOR EXPATS

Investing in gold and silver isn’t about timing or outsmarting traders. That mindset usually leads to losses. Precious metals should be seen as a long-term strategy, not a trade. Over the long run, you can always count on governments to circulate massive amounts of money, fuel inflation, and trigger major geopolitical disruptions that undermine trust in international relations. They are remarkably consistent at that. 

You can also consider precious metals as an insurance hedge. That doesn’t mean something bad needs to happen; it means you’re prepared if it does. With governments in charge, problems are inevitable, this year, next year, or a few years down the road. Whatever triggers the next financial crisis, holding precious metals as insurance helps mitigate your exposure to risks.

As an expat, you live in multiple currencies, legal systems, and political environments. Precious metals provide neutral ground. They aren’t tied to any single monetary system, nor is their value determined by any one government’s intervention. They represent a truly global store of value. Additionally, they are portable, globally recognized, and independent of any single player or system.

Related content: Why Every Plan-B Should Include Precious Metals

Offshore bullion helps expats stay ahead of surveillance and capital controls. Store fully allocated gold in a stable jurisdiction to protect access, property rights, and economic sovereignty before crises hit

WHY OFFSHORE METALS MATTER MORE THAN EVER

Over the past decade, governments have increasingly treated private capital as something to monitor and restrict. This trend is moving in only one direction. 

History shows that confiscation rarely arrives overnight. First, rules change; then reporting requirements expand; and finally, the so-called “temporary” emergency measures become permanent. Whenever you see the expansion of financial surveillance that is justified by security, tax compliance, or stability concerns, you need to be aware that the threat against your wealth and economic sovereignty has grown out of control. By the time people realize their options have narrowed, the exits are already limited.

In times of rising global tensions and the disintegration of powerful blocs, you can expect more capital controls. They begin with withdrawal limits, transfer delays, and administrative hurdles that make moving money slow, expensive, or sometimes impossible. And they tend to appear at exactly the moment you need access to your money most.

However, if you have already diversified your jurisdictional risk by investing in offshore precious metals, your exposure to these risks will be limited. You can easily hold these precious metals in a stable, well-regulated offshore destination to benefit from legal stability and clearer property rights. Since physical access to assets is fully allocated outside the banking system, you can focus on other things that matter to you most.

That’s why offshore precious metals are about economic sovereignty. Strategic diversification, transparent compliance, and advanced planning give you options and help you avoid reacting to a crisis. For expats whose international lifestyle is built on flexibility, offshore metals are essential to resilience against jurisdictional and global risks. That’s why offshore precious metals are about building economic sovereignty through strategic diversification and advanced planning. Otherwise, in a time of crisis, you'll have no choice but to react to what is already inevitable. 

Governments will keep spending, borrowing, and printing—structurally. You can’t fix the system from within, but you can opt out: hold real assets, diversify across jurisdictions, and rely less on paper money

CONCLUSION

Governments will do what governments have always done: spend more, borrow more, and eventually print more money to keep the system afloat. This monetary pattern isn’t ideological, and it isn’t new. It’s structural. Expecting a different outcome this time is futile. 

You can’t fix the system from the inside. The incentives are too strong, the debt is too large, and the dependence on intervention has become permanent. However, the good news is that opting out isn’t difficult. It simply requires clarity about what is happening right now in the world and that it will not improve in the foreseeable future. 

Holding real assets, diversifying across jurisdictions, and reducing dependence on paper money isn’t a rejection of the status quo. The opposite is true. It’s an acknowledgment of how the system actually works. If you’d like to see the world as I do, download our special report on Plan-B Residencies & Instant Citizenships.