Macro Bites – Digital Gold Could Reach $160–$170B by 2031, WGC Says

At the Money20/20 USA conference, the World Gold Council and Boston Consulting Group released a major joint report Digital Gold: Unlocking a US$700bn Opportunity forecasting that the global digital gold market currently valued at $50B could grow to $170B by 2031 and ultimately reach $700B if certain “structural adoption variables” can be eliminated. In the report, Australian precious metals dealer ABC Bullion general manager Jordan Eliseo said, “I have no doubt that there are people that have bought Tether or Paxos that would have never bought a gold ETF or bought a physical gold bar. That created new demand. No question,”

Oil advanced on Tuesday, with Brent reaching a five-month high, as traders priced in a geopolitical risk premium from Houthi attacks on Saudi infrastructure and reports of vessel attacks in the Gulf. Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said on Monday they launched several attacks on Saudi energy, airport and military targets, such as an Aramco site in Yanbu, the Shaybah oilfield, Riyadh's ⁠King Khalid International Airport and Abha airport. Brent futures touched a high of $111.99 a barrel and WTI futures touched a high of $110.48 a barrel.

AI watch: Shares in South Korean AI services firm Elice Group plunged 32% in their Tuesday market debut as deteriorating global AI sentiment shows no signs of easing. Elice, which raised $150M in its IPO, provides AI cloud services as well as AI-based education and business software. It said it planned to spend most of its IPO proceeds on launching portable modular data centers and related infrastructure. Separately, Microsoft has pulled out of an agreement to anchor a major AI data center project in Essex, U.K. developed by Nvidia-backed neocloud startup Nscale due to a shortage of power.