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The standards of purity have changed over time, and most of the US gold dates from before the 1930s; and so a lot of US-domiciled gold have different purities t
by atombender 12d ago
The standards of purity have changed over time, and most of the US gold dates from before the 1930s; and so a lot of US-domiciled gold have different purities that don't follow the current international standard. The purity requirement has been going up over time. A lot of US gold is 90% gold and 10% copper, but gold traded on the international market needs to be at least 99.5% pure. Here [1] is a good breakdown.
[1] https://www.bficapital.com/blog/what-is-inside-fort-knox https://www.bficapital.com/blog/what-is-inside-fort-knox
- bitmasher9 12d agoOne important detail here. When you buy gold, you purchase based on the amount of gold, not the total amount of alloy. This is true in both markets. This difference in standard is practically not a big deal because you very rarely physically move the gold, as moving gold requires a lot of security and is a risk.
- holdupagain 12d ago> requires a lot of security and is a risk and has a cost
- bitmasher9 11d agoI’m not sure 100% sure, but I imagine the cost of transporting to Europe is probably higher than the cost of refining to the European standard.
- leonidasrup 11d agoSwitzerland has 4 of the 15 biggest gold refineries in the world in 2026 https://vinodvsharma.com/top-15-biggest-gold-refineries-in-the-world/ https://vinodvsharma.com/top-15-biggest-gold-refineries-in-t...
- bitmasher9 11d agoYeah, I know most of the gold that goes to Europe from the US usually gets refined in Switzerland. I have no idea what portion of the total cost that is to move gold from US to Switzerland. I imagine it’s less than the insured carrier service.
- leonidasrup 11d ago[flagged]