the paper markets were the the tail on the dog, but the tail constantly wagged the dog because they would overwhelm the physical markets with paper. The problem now is they've done it for so long and to such a grand extent that now there's a question whether these paper contracts are going to be able to deliver. And the answer I think you're going to find in the next month uh to three months we're going to find out that no the paper markets are not a substitute for real physical because they have to deliver


real physical that does not exist. >> One paragraph. China the world's largest silver refiner is restricting exports and has announced that starting in 2026 all silver exports will require individual government licenses effectively giving Beijing full control over every ounce leaving the country. This move classifies silver as a resource of national interest, signaling a strategic shift towards state managed. [music] Imagine waking up one morning to find the global gold and silver markets


frozen. Not because prices collapsed, but because no one can deliver the physical metal anymore. According to Bill Halter, this isn't some dramatic fantasy. It's the logical end of decades of distortion in the paper metals market. For years, major institutions have issued far more paper claims than actual gold and silver backing them. These contracts kept prices suppressed while masking a growing shortage underneath. But that illusion is starting to fail. Halter warns that the widening gap between paper promises and


real metal could be exposed soon. The question isn't if the system snaps, it's when. Futures and options markets only work as long as physical delivery is possible and the available metal is vanishing fast and the consequences stretch far beyond investors. Gold functions as money but silver is essential to modern civilization. It's in electronics, solar panels, medical technology, and advanced weapons. Halter points out that a single Tomahawk missile uses around 500 ounces of silver. If supply dries up, entire


industries could slow, stall, or collapse. The financial shock would be massive. A delivery failure in gold or silver wouldn't just shake confidence, it could freeze the system entirely. Banks, brokers, and insurers would suddenly be left holding contracts backed by nothing. Holter's advice is straightforward. Keep some of your wealth in real physical metal outside digital platforms and financial intermediaries because when the system seizes up, only those holding the actual metal will be prepared.


>> The market is I mean the bottom line is all of the futures options, paper products, etc. They're all based off of the the physical metal in the first place anyway. That's why they're called derivatives. They're derivatives of the actual product. Concern there. There's concern. I mean, if gold were to go, if gold doesn't deliver, the system dies anyway. But if gold doesn't deliver, uh, it's not a direct effect on on on production, if you will. Silver is used


in so many different applications, whether it be industrial, technological, medicinal. Uh, I just did an interview and was talking about every time they shoot a tomahawk missile, there goes a monster box. You can't make a tomahawk missile without five, you know, roughly 500 ounces of of silver. Um, so silver will have profound ramifications to the real world, to the real economy. Now that said, if silver goes failure to deliver or gold goes failure to deliver, uh you're stuck in the casino because


the casino will close. And when the casino closes, and we've talked about this, you know, for the last what, year and a half, maybe even two years, we've talked about the great taking. Once the casino closes and banks and brokers and insurance companies start going belly up, they're going to take your capital with them. And that's why it's so important to get your capital out of the system into something gold and silver that cannot bankrupt and in a in a place where it can't be taken from


you. Right. We're going back to visit uh the 2000 late 2019 episode. That was just before co and the the repo rates spiked to 10% and that the Fed was having to put a 100 plus billion into that market every single night so it could clear. Um then conveniently along came co uh and two things happened. the real economy worldwide uh was definitely stunted or shut down, whatever you want to call it. There was there was less demand for credit because of COVID and it allowed central banks all over the world to flood the markets


with liquidity. Problem solved, not solved, but the can was kicked down the road. Here we are again. Uh it nowhere's we're nowhere's near where we were in October of 2019, but the the overnight rates are starting to move higher again. It's a concern and should be watched. Uh again everything whether it be the real economy uh production consumption transit uh and also the financial world the financial economy everything runs on credit. If credit gets disrupted or credit ceases anywhere


it'll be a shock that will uh it'll shut the whole system down. Yeah. I would first I would just say welcome to the party. Um and next I would say we have interest rates still at basically generational lows. I mean we're not where we were uh 3 or 4 years ago. We're not at 0% rates but rates are extremely low. There's no risk premium uh in interest rates at all. So uh bro uh brokers and banks they understand that the likelihood long-term 5 years 10 years you know longer than that the likelihood is that


rates are going to go higher not lower and they also understand that there's going to have to be another mass printing whether they call it QE or not it doesn't matter but there's going to be another global mass printing and the problem with that is that that debases the currencies and that uh lowers the value of the unbacked currencies. If the values are lower, then you got to give more of dollars or euros or yen or whatever for that same ounce of gold or the same ounce of silver. So, I think they're


looking at it pragmatically and saying, "Yeah, the day of, you know, buying and holding bonds is over." And that's why they're they're recommending um half of that bond position be liquidated and put into gold. The only problem with that is if everybody did that, you'd have gold at probably who knows $2 million an ounce. Just, you know, pick a number, but it's going to be super super high. >> Andy Sheckchman highlights a critical reality. Most of the world's silver


supply still comes from just a handful of regions, Mexico, Peru, and Canada. But in recent years, China has been moving aggressively to secure that supply for itself. According to Sheckchman, China has been offering miners nearly double the price that Western buyers pay for semi-refined silver and mine concentrate, the raw material produced before final refining. Once purchased, China ships this material back home for processing, tightening its grip on both production and refining capacity. Even though China


is already among the top global silver producers, it's behaving like a nation preparing for scarcity. Meanwhile, Western countries, especially the United States, remain dangerously dependent on foreign imports. Sheckchman explains that this isn't just a supply issue, it's a strategic one. China is building deep water ports in Peru and investing heavily in logistics networks that strengthen its long-term control over global commodity flows. The world is witnessing a shift from western


paper-based markets to a system centered on physical control of resources. And China's next step raises the stakes even further. Starting in 2026, every ounce of silver leaving China will require government approval. By designating silver as a resource of national interest, Beijing has effectively placed the metal under state authority, an action that could reshape global supply dynamics for years to come. If this insight helped you, make sure to like, subscribe, and share it with investors


who need to hear what's