Gold Revaluation, BRICS Rails, and Bitcoin’s Strategic Position

Summary

The September 10, 2025 episode of the Brandon Gentile podcast features Andy Schectman arguing that US policymakers are preparing a controlled exit from dollar reserve status. Schectman contends that revaluing gold, redesigning the Treasury curve, and embracing stablecoin demand for short-term debt could devalue the dollar while stabilizing the bond market and supporting manufacturing reshoring. For Bitcoin-focused readers, the episode highlights how gold-centric strategies, BRICS settlement rails, and institutional risk aversion may shape the space in which Bitcoin operates as a parallel, self-custodied reserve asset.

Take-Home Messages

1. Engineered Dollar Exit: Schectman argues that US policymakers intend to shed reserve-currency status to escape Triffin’s dilemma, devalue the dollar, and restore industrial competitiveness.
2. Gold as Balance-Sheet Lever: He contends that central-bank gold accumulation, repatriation, and increased physical delivery signal preparation for a major gold revaluation to repair sovereign balance sheets.
3. Redesigned Treasury Curve: Schectman outlines a split-curve model in which stablecoin demand backstops short-dated Treasuries while long-dated, gold-redeemable zero-coupon bonds anchor the back end at low funding costs.
4. BRICS Settlement Challenge: He highlights BRICSBridge and related gold-settlement infrastructure as an emerging alternative to SWIFT that enables local-currency trade and gold-based clearing outside the dollar system.
5. Bitcoin at the Edge: Schectman acknowledges Bitcoin’s strength in self-custody and censorship resistance but argues that central banks still overwhelmingly prefer physical gold, leaving Bitcoin as a parallel hedge rather than a primary reserve.

Overview

Andy Schectman presents the current macro environment as a late-stage consequence of Triffin’s dilemma, decades of interest-rate suppression, and an exploding US debt stock. He argues that reserve-currency status now imposes mounting costs because it forces persistent trade deficits, offshoring of manufacturing, and dependence on foreign buyers of Treasuries. In his view, policymakers have quietly concluded that the only workable exit is a managed retreat from dollar hegemony rather than an explicit default or uncontrolled hyperinflation.

To support this thesis, Schectman points to central banks repatriating and accumulating gold while increasingly standing for physical delivery on Western exchanges. He emphasizes that metal leaving the COMEX ecosystem for other vaults is unlikely to return, interpreting this shift as a structural move away from paper claims toward tangible reserves. He further notes that the United States has become a net importer of gold, which he reads as evidence that domestic authorities are building a hidden stockpile ahead of a revaluation.

On the mechanics of a reset, Schectman outlines a two-tiered Treasury strategy designed to sustain government financing under a weaker dollar. At the front end, he expects stablecoins backed by short-dated Treasuries to generate synthetic demand for bills as organic foreign appetite wanes. At the long end, he envisages zero-coupon bonds redeemable in gold after a substantial revaluation, allowing the government to borrow at near-zero nominal rates while holders are compensated through gold’s rising price.

Schectman situates these ideas within a broader geopolitical context shaped by BRICS-aligned initiatives such as BRICSBridge and emerging multi-jurisdictional gold vaults. He argues that local-currency trade settled in gold will gradually bypass the dollar and SWIFT, especially across the Belt and Road, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and related blocs. Bitcoin enters the discussion as a parallel, censorship-resistant asset that individuals and some institutions use for self-custody, but Schectman maintains that central banks remain anchored to gold as their primary neutral reserve asset.

Stakeholder Perspectives

1. US fiscal and monetary authorities: Weigh the political and economic trade-offs of devaluing the dollar, revaluing gold, and restructuring the Treasury curve to maintain funding without triggering systemic crises.
2. Foreign central banks and sovereign wealth funds: Reassess reserve composition by shifting from long-dated Treasuries toward gold and other hard assets to reduce sanction and devaluation risk.
3. BRICS-aligned governments and payment-system architects: Invest in local-currency settlement rails and gold-backed clearing mechanisms to reduce dollar dependence and increase strategic autonomy.
4. Financial institutions, bullion banks, and exchanges: Manage inventory, counterparty, and delivery risks as clients demand more physical settlement and as gold flows increasingly bypass traditional paper markets.
5. Bitcoin-focused investors and infrastructure providers: Monitor how gold-centric reset strategies, stablecoin regulation, and cross-border settlement changes shape demand for Bitcoin as a self-custodied, non-state reserve asset.

Implications and Future Outlook

If policymakers move toward the kind of gold revaluation Schectman describes, the immediate implication would be a sharp devaluation of the dollar paired with a larger nominal asset base for the US Treasury. Such a move could partially repair sovereign balance sheets and enable long-dated borrowing at zero coupons, but it would also redistribute wealth from dollar savers to holders of gold and other real assets. For decision-makers, the key challenge would be sequencing this transition without triggering uncontrolled inflation, social backlash, or a loss of confidence in public institutions.

The rise of BRICS-centric settlement infrastructure and local-currency trade settled in gold would, if sustained, gradually erode dollar dominance in cross-border payments and commodity pricing. States that succeed in integrating gold-backed settlement with efficient digital rails may gain leverage in resource trade, particularly across energy, metals, and food. For Bitcoin, this environment could normalize the idea of non-dollar settlement and hard-asset backing, while still leaving central-bank balance sheets anchored primarily to gold.

Domestically, any strategy built on a weaker dollar and low long-end funding costs hinges on successfully reshoring manufacturing and rebuilding real productive capacity. Without credible industrial policy, workforce development, and infrastructure investment, the benefits of devaluation could dissipate into higher import prices and political instability. Over the next decade, the balance between gold-centric state strategies, BRICS-led financial pluralism, and grassroots adoption of Bitcoin as a parallel savings technology will shape how individuals, firms, and governments navigate monetary risk.

Some Key Information Gaps

1. How will the US manage the transition away from dollar reserve status without destabilizing global markets? Understanding credible sequencing and backstops is essential to avoid contagion across trade, funding, and banking systems.
2. What options exist to reduce or restructure US liabilities exceeding $200 trillion? Clarifying feasible combinations of devaluation, fiscal reform, and growth is critical for long-term debt sustainability.
3. What impact will BRICS settlement systems have on global currency flows? Mapping likely adoption patterns and transaction volumes will help assess how quickly dollar-based payment networks could lose share.
4. How feasible is gold revaluation as a mechanism to stabilize US balance sheets? Evaluating operational, legal, and market constraints is necessary to judge whether revaluation can deliver the scale of relief Schectman envisages.
5. How could Bitcoin address trust deficits better than gold in the long run? Comparing auditability, custody risks, and political neutrality will inform whether Bitcoin can complement or partially substitute for state-held bullion reserves.

Broader Implications for Bitcoin

Hybrid Reserve Architectures and Monetary Power

If gold is revalued and integrated into long-dated sovereign debt, more states may converge on hybrid reserve models that combine bullion with digital assets like Bitcoin. Such architectures would dilute the dominance of any single fiat currency and distribute monetary power across a portfolio of hard and algorithmic assets. For Bitcoin, this opens a pathway to coexist alongside gold as a complementary reserve element that offers transparency and portability beyond what physical metal alone can provide.

Fragmented Settlement Rails and Neutral Digital Bridges

As BRICS-aligned payment systems scale and Western infrastructures adapt, global settlement could fragment into multiple regional rails with differing legal regimes and technical standards. Firms trading across blocs will need neutral, programmable assets that can move value between systems without relying on any single state’s infrastructure. Bitcoin is well positioned to serve as a cross-rail bridge asset for high-value transfers, especially when counterparties distrust each other’s banking systems but can verify on-chain settlement.

Sovereign Risk, Self-Custody, and Retail Hedging Norms

A policy-driven dollar devaluation would highlight to households and smaller institutions how quickly sovereign decisions can erode the real value of bank deposits and bond portfolios. In that environment, self-custody norms around both physical gold and Bitcoin are likely to deepen, with hardware wallets and key-management practices becoming part of mainstream financial literacy. This shift would gradually rebalance power away from custodial intermediaries toward individuals and local entities that control their own savings instruments.

Industrial Policy, Energy Systems, and Bitcoin Mining

Reshoring manufacturing under a weaker dollar will require large-scale energy investments, new grid infrastructure, and creative financing of industrial projects. Bitcoin mining can serve as a flexible off-taker for stranded or overbuilt energy capacity, improving project economics for renewables and baseload generation while providing a globally liquid revenue stream. Over the medium term, jurisdictions that align industrial policy, energy deployment, and responsible Bitcoin mining could gain both competitiveness and resilience in a more multipolar monetary system.

Regulatory Coordination and Financial Stability in a Multi-Asset World

A world with gold-redeemable sovereign debt, stablecoin-backed bills, BRICS settlement rails, and widespread Bitcoin use will stretch existing regulatory frameworks. Cross-sector coordination will be required to manage liquidity, collateral standards, and systemic risks when shocks propagate across bonds, gold, stablecoins, and Bitcoin markets simultaneously. Policymakers who develop robust stress-testing regimes and data-sharing mechanisms across these asset classes will be better positioned to harness innovation while containing instability.