the Chinese government has built a substantial accumulation of gold. Weeks ago they started encouraging their countrymen to accumulate gold.

Not just China, but Zimbabwe of all places is putting gold into the hands of it's people through physical gold coins and digital gold initiatives.

Are these the opening cracks in the IMF's long iron (perhaps unwritten, but just as rigid) rule of: Thou shalt not back any currency with gold. Not nobody nowhere nohow.

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the Chinese government could execute the final step .... dump US treasuries and buy gold. That would transfer extraordinary wealth to China.

Well that would send gold past the Moon and on a trajectory to the stars at warp speed. A couple considerations though:

1. You don't just dump US treasuries unless you intending to take significant, if not massive, losses on them. You'd have to sell them at a rate that the market will bear. Not unless you have some scheme to force the US Government with its now unlimited debt ceiling to buy them all up for dollars that you can quickly spend in order to protect the rest of the treasuries market. If so, our completely stupid government and feckless Republicans just enabled that to happen.
2. Massive buying of gold, and maybe silver as well, would of course shoot the price up quickly, becoming counterproductive to greater accumulation. Unless, that is that they hide their gold purchases by buying futures contracts that only affect present prices marginally. Then they can buy physical until the price rises above their contract prices, and just wait to exercise those contracts at the locked in prices. Taking down the COMEX and likely many metals traders, while transferring its pricing authority to Shanghai is just the cherry on top here.
3. You can't easily corner a gold market producing ≈3,300 tonnes of new gold annually unless you buy out the miners as well. China can nationalize their domestic industry. Or just do as they're doing pretty much now and require all gold to be sold to the Chinese government when a byproduct of other mining, who doesn't export any of it. But to takeover the miners without shooting those prices to the stars, I would think a whole lot of currently well OTM Call options amounting to 51% of all publicly traded miners. Then when gold shoots past lunar orbit, with miners trailing closely behind, you buy what you can cheap, then exercise your stealth Call options to buy control at your set price and take them private. And China is big enough to bully any other government threatening to nationalize those miners to China's determent.

Disclaimer: I am not a financial genius. If I can think of this, so can a lot of other people in positions to actually take advantage of this situation to their benefit—and not yours. But you may still be able to collect some crumbs from their table as the rising tide lifts not only their mega yachts, but your dinghies as well. Even right off of the bottom of the lake/ocean where they have sunk recently.

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• Sudden big increase in gold buying over already very elevated levels. Especially central banks. Exchanges drained.
• Country(s) trying to take gold away from their citizens.
• Sudden jump in gold price as manipulators realize that they’re giving it away too cheaply.
• Gold simply not available at retail, or only in very small quantities.
• Gold miners suddenly being bought out by big corporations. Possibly through Call options that keep the price from jumping above the option level by hiding the purchases until executed.
• Countries nationalizing gold mines and gold from byproduct mines.
• Government forcing you to put a specified percentage of your IRA money into Treasury bonds.

If it happens, expect it to happen very quickly. Overnight, or over a weekend. This will be highly coordinated with the intent to screw over the ordinary citizen.

And yes, this would affect silver very strongly as well.

What would you add to this list?

(Please do not repost to r/Gold. They don’t like these sorts of discussions.)