Forget $4,000, Here’s Why Gold is Going Much Higher

In the middle of the 15th century, Europe endured a crisis called the Great Bullion Famine. 

Across the continent, gold and silver coinage dried up, choking trade and fueling social unrest. It also was a stark reminder for kings and merchants alike that the lifeblood of economies didn’t lie in laws scribbled on parchment or royal seals, but rather on invaluable precious metal that backed them. 

For nearly fifty years, Europe scrambled to ration what little gold and silver could be found until explorers and miners opened up new supply channels. 

And it’s no coincidence that this bullion famine set the stage for the great voyages of discovery and the feverish hunt for new mines in the Americas. 

When supply falters, human history bends. Now that lesson is being replayed, only this time the famine isn’t found in medieval Europe — it’s striking our modern gold market, where a single mine’s misfortune may accelerate one of the most powerful bull runs for gold prices that we’ve ever seen. 

Today, gold prices are already at all-time highs after clearing $3,800 per ounce just a few days ago. 

Even though investors hardly needed more fuel for the rally, they got it anyway after Freeport-McMoRan announced a catastrophic setback at its Grasberg mine in Indonesia. 

If the name doesn’t ring a bell, know that it’s one of the most important to today’s gold market. Not only is Freeport-McMoRan the ninth largest gold-producing company on the planet, but the Grasberg mine happens to be its primary driver for gold production. 

So what happened? Tragically, a massive mudflow forced the company to declare force majeure, which is simply a legal declaration that they can’t fulfill supply contracts because of unforeseen disaster. 

And to give you an idea of how critical this mine was, consider that in 2024 it delivered 1.9 million ounces to market. Because of this event, Freeport now expects its 2026 gold production to fall by 35%, to just 1.12 million ounces. That’s not a tremor — it’s a landslide. 

In an already tight supply environment, this kind of disruption is the equivalent of Europe’s bullion famine all over again, and history tells us that markets don’t respond quietly to shortages of precious metal.

The timing for a supply shortage couldn’t be more combustible right now. Global gold demand grew by 3% in 2023 to nearly 4,900 tonnes, then climbed again in 2024 to 4,974 tonnes, all driven by aggressive central bank purchases, political upheaval, and economic uncertainty. 

During the first half of 2025, gold demand was up another 3% year-over-year, with no sign of easing… all while supply growth has been tepid. 

New discoveries are rare, grades are declining, and production increases are marginal at best. Now Grasberg — one of the world’s biggest mines — has stumbled, widening the deficit gap. 

Demand is surging, supply is shrinking, and investors are watching the same movie Europe saw in the 1400s, only this time the famine will play out on Bloomberg terminals rather than in the royal courts of Burgundy.

For the record, we’re not the only ones waking up to this reality, and Wall Street is already on board this bullish phase for gold. 

Deutsche Bank just raised its 2026 gold forecast by $300 to $4,000 per ounce, an admission that the floor of this market has shifted higher. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs issued its own bullish note, pointing to a breakout above $4,000 next year. Even JP Morgan, which recently warned that gold was approaching bubble territory, conceded that prices could breach $4,000 in the second quarter of 2026. 

Look, when the biggest banks in the world start raising targets in unison, it isn’t noise — it’s the market consensus shifting. This isn’t speculative froth; it’s recognition that gold has moved from “safe haven” to “necessary haven” in a world that keeps multiplying its risks faster than its certainties.

Of course, the fundamentals supporting this rally are relentless. 

Central banks are buying gold at a pace not seen in decades. The Federal Reserve has already cut interest rates once this year and signaled at least two more before year’s end, which crushes yields and pushes investors into assets that don’t need a yield to justify themselves. Every rate cut makes gold’s lack of interest payments irrelevant and its intrinsic permanence more attractive. 

Then there’s the brooding geopolitical stress — wars in Europe and the Middle East, tariffs and trade wars between the U.S. and China, and swelling government debts — that only compounds the sense that fiat currencies are brittle paper promises.

Gold doesn’t care about elections, currencies, or central bank credibility, dear reader, because it’s the oldest hedge in human history.

But here’s the twist that could make this rally historic… 

Gold isn’t just a commodity or some hedge. 

You see, it’s being reborn as the foundation for digital assets, a bridge between the blockchain economy and the ancient store of wealth. As I’ve told you before, new investment vehicles like NatGold marry the two perfectly, and it comes at a moment when scarcity is about to add a premium to every ounce. 

Just think of gold’s bull market unfolding in parallel with the surge of blockchain adoption. 

Except this time, the digital token isn’t backed by air or by promises, but rather by verified, in-ground reserves — the bedrock of value itself. NatGold will successfully capture the upside of rising gold prices while inheriting the liquidity and technological advantages that made cryptocurrencies irresistible to a younger generation of investors. 

In a world where Grasberg’s mudflow can rip millions of ounces from the global supply ledger, a token like NatGold is positioned to ride scarcity higher and convert that scarcity into digital permanence.

Skeptics say that markets always overreact to accidents, that Grasberg will recover sooner than expected, and that miners will fill the gap. 

But those same voices said the London Gold Pool could keep the $35 peg in the 1960s, or that Cigar Lake’s flood in 2006 would be fixed in months rather than the eight years it took Cameco to return it to production.

Commodity markets punish complacency and reward realism, and the truth today is that Grasberg’s production is gone for years, not months, and global demand is only heading one way. 

All the while, Central banks aren’t slowing their buying spree, investors aren’t giving up their hedge, and policymakers aren’t about to stop debasing currencies to paper over debt.

We’re not at the endgame for this gold run, we’re staring directly at the acceleration phase. 

If $3,800/oz is the latest surpassed milestone, and $4,000/oz is the next marker, then how long before those forecasts start calling for $5,000/oz? A world already anxious about inflation, conflict, and debt has now been handed a supply shock straight out of history’s bullion famines. 

Make no mistake, prices will respond accordingly.

And that’s where NatGold comes into the picture for us, and the opportunity is clear for those investors who understand that scarcity is the ultimate value driver. 

Gold prices are on a trajectory that could carry them to $5,000 and beyond in the coming years; the Grasberg disruption practically ensures that global supply will remain hindered for a long time. 

Meanwhile, NatGold offers the smart money the ability to harness both the bullish trajectory of gold and the momentum of digital assets — technology and scarcity fused into one. 

This is the modern answer to the Great Bullion Famine. 

Think of it as a way to hold digital gold that is verifiably rooted in the earth itself, and anyone who recognizes that convergence will ultimately benefit most, not by chasing speculative coins or waiting for central banks to tell them what we already know, but by stepping into the market before the next leg of this gold rally carries it further out of reach.

The famine is already here, and the Grasberg is the canary in the mine. 

History tells us that when the gold supply runs thin, economies change course and fortunes are made by those who act first. 

That is why we’re preparing for the breakout above $4,000 per ounce, and why NatGold represents the most compelling way to seize it.

Let me show you why right here.

P.S. MicroStrategy bet $48 billion on Bitcoin. But a $0.30 company just unlocked something bigger: NatGold — the world’s first crypto commodity backed by real, in-ground gold. It mints gold-backed tokens every 60 days at 98% margins, and this tiny firm controls 73% of the supply. Click here to discover why this could be the “next Bitcoin” — backed by real gold.