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China Says "GET OUT" To Paper Gold Market Traders | Chris Whalen

Liberty and Finance Jul 25, 2026

Summary

The guest argues central banks are buying gold to diversify reserves away from the dollar, and lower prices should accelerate their purchases.

China is pushing paper gold traders toward physical delivery to damp price volatility, a structural shift the guest calls the evolution of Asian markets.

Gold trades as a monetary asset while silver tracks industrial demand, so the two metals respond to different economic forces.

Diesel and sulfuric acid costs keep climbing, and the guest argues lost refining capacity and supply nationalism point to persistent, possibly double-digit inflation.

The guest warns banks have extended $1.5 trillion to private credit funds with no realistic repayment path if those loans go bad.

Kevin Warsh's takeaways

  • Top takeaway The guest points out that Chairman Warsh told Congress last week the Fed cannot do much about externalities like wars, and questions whether raising rates to force prices down is realistic when the Treasury runs a deficit of 6% of GDP.
  • He asks how Warsh is supposed to get inflation down while the US runs a deficit that large, calling the situation crazy and arguing significant political change is needed.

Elijah K. Johnson's takeaways

  • Top takeaway As host, Johnson frames the interview around the metals pullback, telling viewers sentiment is low and silver has broken below $60, trading as low as $55 recently.
  • He presses the guest on Shanghai's rule changes, the outlook for double-digit inflation and a more hawkish Fed, and his prior warning that private credit is a slow-motion train wreck.

Chris Whalen's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Whalen says he is a medium- to long-term buyer of both gold and silver, is still up 20-30% on those positions as of the interview, and treats the pullbacks as opportunities to add.
  • He expects a more hawkish Federal Reserve and much higher inflation, potentially double-digit, driven by commodity inputs: diesel up 30% in the US since the war with Iran began and sulfuric acid up 150% since the Gulf War, with very little excess supply left in major markets.
  • He distinguishes gold as a monetary trade, predicting an uptick in central bank purchases this year because lower prices incentivize reserve diversification away from dollars, while he sees silver as a commercial trade tied to China and electronics manufacturing.
  • On China pushing retail paper traders out of the Shanghai market in favor of physical delivery, he says the short-term price impact is unknowable but argues less speculation and a focus on physical metal could prove bullish over time.
  • He calls private credit a slow-motion train wreck: banks have extended over $1.5 trillion of largely non-recourse credit to non-depository financial institutions while competing with firms like Apollo, Brookfield, Blue Owl and Blackstone, and he also flags an explosion in margin debt.