#298 Chris Irons: Why Gold's Move Is "Like Early Internet" and the Dollar Collapse Nobody's Talking About

Financial commentator Chris Irons, also known as Quoth the Raven on X and author of the popular Fringe Finance substack, warns we're in "completely off the rails, unprecedented territory" with the Fed trapped between printing money to save markets or allowing deflationary debt defaults. He predicts the Fed will ultimately implement yield curve control to bail out the bond market, pushing America down an emerging market path negative for the dollar—which gold's historic rally is already pricing in. Irons dismisses gold meme stock concerns since central banks are the primary buyers, and argues government spending is politically impossible to cut. Drawing from his background as anonymous short seller "Quoth The Raven," he explains why short sellers face unprecedented challenges as Fed liquidity creates massive distortions—$2 trillion in worthless crypto finds bids while fundamentally sound shorts get squeezed. He believes during April's Liberation Day, markets were "days away from a bond market crisis" when stocks and bonds unusually sold off together. Irons warns a sharp deleveraging event is inevitable though timing is uncertain, offering blunt advice: "Don't listen to anybody, including me" and avoid certainty, because we've never been here before and things can change profoundly overnight.

This episode is sponsored by Monetary Metals. Visit monetary-metals.com/julia

Links:

X: https://x.com/QTRResearch

Substack: https://quoththeraven.substack.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction & welcome

0:36 - Guest introduction: Chris Irons "Quoth The Raven"

1:14 - Big picture macro view: unprecedented territory

2:19 - Gold's rally & stock market highs

2:54 - The 100-year inflationary cycle

4:35 - Fed's dual mandate tension

5:34 - Upcoming Fed meeting & rate cuts

8:45 - Trump administration's economic approach

11:18 - Trump's business background & debt management

13:53 - The Fed's uncomfortable position

16:00 - Quantitative tightening discussion

20:03 - Oil markets & commodities

22:45 - Investment strategy: gold, silver, Bitcoin

27:30 - Bitcoin vs gold debate

31:15 - Portfolio allocation discussion

34:20 - Short selling in today's market

39:07 - The Herbalife case study (Bill Ackman)

43:01 - The ultimate bubble & market risks

45:37 - Where to find Chris's work

45:56 - Final advice: avoid certainty & do your own research

48:16 - Closing remarks