Yuan, crypto…and the question nobody is asking about gold

As tensions rise in the Middle East, a new development is quietly reshaping how global trade gets done.

Ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz—one of the most critical chokepoints in the world—are reportedly being asked to pay tolls not in dollars, but in Chinese yuan or cryptocurrency.

At first glance, this looks like a geopolitical story. Sanctions, workarounds, regional power dynamics.

But it may be something more important.

What happens when the dollar is no longer the default?

For decades, the global financial system has revolved around the U.S. dollar.

Energy is priced in it.
Trade settles in it.
Liquidity flows through it. 

But that system depends on access—to banks, to clearing networks, to permission.

When access is restricted, alternatives emerge. That’s what we’re seeing now.

The yuan offers a state-backed channel outside U.S. control. Crypto offers a permissionless rail that operates beyond traditional finance.

Both are gaining traction in specific contexts.

But neither fully solves the problem.

The yuan is not neutral. It comes with its own political gravity, its own constraints, its own system of control.

Crypto, meanwhile, is volatile and still searching for a stable role in large-scale trade.

These are substitutes. Workarounds.

Not foundations.

Which brings us to a question that’s largely missing from the conversation:

What’s one form of money that doesn’t depend on any system at all?

For most of history, the answer was clear: gold.

Gold doesn’t require a clearing network. It’s not issued by any government or tied to any one country’s policy decisions. It’s been accepted across borders, regimes, and crises for thousands of years.

In a world where monetary systems are beginning to fragment, those characteristics start to matter again.

This is not about the dollar disappearing. It’s about the conditions under which it works—and where it doesn’t.

And increasingly, those edges are being tested.

The more the system fragments, the more participants will look for ways to operate outside it. Some will turn to alternative currencies. Others to digital assets.

But history suggests something else tends to re-emerge in these moments:

Neutral money.

Not because it’s new, but because it’s independent.

There’s another layer to this shift that most investors still overlook.

Gold has long been treated as a passive asset—something you hold, but don’t use. But that assumption is changing. A growing market is enabling gold to be deployed as capital—supporting real economic activity and generating a return, paid in gold.

That development matters.

Because if gold isn’t just a store of value, but also a productive asset, it changes how it fits into a portfolio, and into the broader financial system.

Monetary Metals has been at the forefront of building this emerging gold capital market—connecting investors with opportunities to earn a yield on gold, paid in gold.

To explore how this works—and what it means in a world where monetary systems are competing—they’re hosting a live webinar.

The headlines may focus on yuan and crypto.

But the more important question is what comes next.

And what has been here all along.

Reserve your seat to learn how you can prepare your portfolio for the monetary competition going forward.