The scale of paper trading relative to underlying physical supply is striking: the chart estimates paper-to-physical ratios of roughly 50:1 for oil, 100:1 for gold, and 358:1 for silver. Such ratios illustrate how derivatives, futures, ETFs and other financial instruments can create market exposure many times larger than the quantity of physical commodities available for delivery. Importantly, this does not mean that every paper claim represents a competing ownership claim on the same physical unit—most contracts are financially settled or closed before delivery. In normal conditions, deep derivatives markets improve liquidity and price discovery. But when investors simultaneously seek physical delivery, tight inventories and limited production capacity can make the physical market increasingly important for price formation. This dynamic can be particularly relevant for precious metals, where physical supply cannot quickly respond to a sudden increase in investment demand. Maintain a strategic allocation to physical gold or fully allocated, independently verified gold-backed instruments as a portfolio hedge against monetary, geopolitical and financial-system risks. For investors with higher risk tolerance, silver may offer greater upside in a physical-supply squeeze, but with materially higher volatility.

$XAUH is now available on ChangeNOW! A major step forward in expanding global access to tokenized physical gold. ChangeNOW, operating since 2017, has built a global crypto ecosystem serving: 🌍 10M+ users worldwide 🌐 175 countries 🔗 5,000+ API partners ⚡ 50,000+ exchanges every day Now, this global infrastructure provides another gateway to $XAUH — a digital asset backed 1:1 by 1 gram of Swiss LBMA 999.9 fine gold, securely stored and insured in Switzerland. 🥇 Physical gold backing ⚡ 24/7 digital access 🔄 Easy crypto swaps 🌍 Greater global accessibility The ChangeNOW ecosystem supports 1,000+ crypto assets, while its listing infrastructure connects assets with thousands of partners and millions of users. Physical gold. Digital mobility. Global access. Explore $XAUH on ChangeNOW: changenow.io/currencies/herc…

Bitcoin climbed as high as $87,158 on last week, up more than 25% since the latest bull cycle began on August 20, 2026. Historical data shows that Bitcoin bull cycles have lasted 169 days on average when excluding one unusually long cycle, with BTC gaining +130.5% from start to peak on average. This is Bitcoin's 11th bull market since 2014. Bitcoin closed above its 200-day moving average on August 20, bringing the 2025–2026 bear market to an end after 290 days. Using the inverse the bear market definition, we consider Bitcoin to be in a bull cycle when it trades above its 200-day moving average for at least 30 consecutive days. Across nine completed cycles since 2014, Bitcoin rose an average of +130.5% from the start of each bull cycle to its peak, excluding the extreme 2015–2018 rally.

🥇 $XAUH: Swiss Gold Comes to TRON Herculis Gold Coin ($XAUH) is now available on TRON, bringing tokenized Swiss gold to one of the world's largest blockchain settlement networks. Each $XAUH token represents 1 gram of 999.9-purity gold, refined and vaulted in Switzerland according to LBMA standards. Holders can redeem their $XAUH for physical bullion once they reach 500 grams. $XAUH is already multi-chain, with availability across TON, Ethereum and now TRON — giving holders more flexibility to buy, transfer and manage their gold-backed assets. ⚡️ Why TRON? TRON combines: • Fast confirmations of roughly 3 seconds • Very low transaction costs • Deep stablecoin liquidity • A large existing USDT ecosystem That makes TRON a natural environment for a gold-backed asset designed to move efficiently on-chain. 🏦 Where to buy $XAUH will be available through a dedicated liquidity pool on SunSwap, TRON's leading DEX, as well as centralized exchanges including BTSE. 💰 Earn with liquidity Liquidity providers supporting the $XAUH pool on SunSwap will be eligible for rewards in USDT, TRX and XAUH, while helping deepen on-chain liquidity. 🔐 Security for the next generation of RWAs XAUH's security approach also incorporates post-quantum protection powered by Quip Network and ID Quantique, addressing emerging security challenges as real-world assets increasingly move on-chain. More additional information read here: medium.com/@herculis_gold/xa…

Gold Has Historically Strengthened After the Fed’s First Rate Hike. Gold’s relationship with monetary tightening is often misunderstood. Conventional wisdom suggests that higher interest rates should automatically be negative for gold. History tells a more nuanced story. As the chart shows, gold has historically weakened in the months leading up to the Federal Reserve’s first rate hike, as markets price in tighter monetary conditions ahead of time. But after the first hike, the pattern has tended to reverse. Across the historical tightening cycles represented in the chart: 6 months before the first hike: gold averaged −2.50% 3 months before: −1.09% 1 month before: −0.21% 1 month after: −0.50% 3 months after: +4.22% 6 months after: +5.84% The key point is that markets are forward-looking. By the time the Fed actually raises rates, a significant part of the tightening expectations may already be reflected in gold price

Making money feels good. Keeping its purchasing power is harder. A simple cup of coffee tells the story. If a coffee cost €1.00 in January 2002, that same euro would have needed to grow to roughly €1.69 by July 2026 just to preserve its purchasing power, based on Eurostat’s euro-area HICP illustration. That is the quiet effect of inflation: your account balance may stay the same while the amount it can buy gradually declines. For investors, the lesson is straightforward. Preserving wealth is not only about avoiding losses in nominal terms — it is about generating returns that protect purchasing power over time. Cash provides liquidity. But over long periods, capital that does not keep pace with inflation loses real value. Don’t measure wealth only in euros. Measure what those euros can still buy. Follow Herculis Group for more insights on wealth preservation, markets and long-term investing. Inflation illustration. Required growth, not an investment forecast. Not investment advice. #Inflation #Investing #WealthManagement #PurchasingPower #AssetAllocation #WealthPreservation #HerculisGroup

For decades, the rule was simple: rising real rates meant falling gold prices. This relationship worked because Treasuries served as the ultimate collateral—politically neutral and financially liquid. Since the freezing of Russian reserves in 2022, that neutrality has vanished. A dollar-denominated asset is no longer just a claim on the U.S.; it is also a claim subject to U.S. jurisdiction. Gold is therefore no longer purchased solely as a hedge against inflation. It is acquired as collateral, without sanctions risk. This is why gold can rise alongside real interest rates. It is not a correlation anomaly. It is a revaluation of the political risk embedded in foreign exchange reserves. And no one understands this shift better than Beijing. China’s officially reported holdings of Treasuries fell to $618 billion in July, their lowest level since August 2008, down from more than $1,300 billion at their peak in November 2013. China is not engaging in a dramatic sell-off, as it has no interest in collapsing the asset it is divesting. It is orchestrating a slow, disciplined, and strategic shift toward gold, agency bonds, certain real assets, and its own financial ecosystem. Investors should follow suit. China is not betting on the sudden collapse of the U.S.; it is protecting itself against the gradual erosion of the U.S.’s privilege. It isn’t selling a price. It’s selling a dependency.

India’s Relationship With Gold Is Changing: Investment Is Overtaking Jewellery For generations, India has been synonymous with gold jewellery. But the latest data point to an important shift: Indians are increasingly buying gold as an investment, not simply as jewellery. In Q1 2026, investment demand across gold bars, coins and ETFs reached 82 tonnes, up 54% year-on-year, compared with 66 tonnes of jewellery demand. On the comparable net basis used in the chart, investment represented nearly 70% of Indian gold demand, while jewellery fell to around 30% — its lowest share in the World Gold Council’s data going back to 2000. The physical market is particularly striking. Indians purchased 62 tonnes of bars and coins, up 34% YoY and the strongest first quarter since 2013. Gold ETFs added another record 20 tonnes, with ETF holdings reaching 115 tonnes by the end of March. This is more than a change in how Indians buy gold. It is a change in why they own it. This strengthens our long-term bullish view on gold. India is one of the world’s largest gold markets, and a structural migration from jewellery toward bars, coins, ETFs and digital forms of gold could make demand increasingly investment-driven and price-sensitive to the upside. We would maintain a strategic 5–10% gold allocation in diversified portfolios and use meaningful price corrections to build positions rather than chase sharp rallies. The bigger message from the chart is clear: gold in India is evolving from something you wear into something you invest in.

Worried that US stocks are in a bubble? You can be right about the bubble and still sell years too early. A bubble can keep inflating for months, sometimes years. Calling it a bubble tells you very little about how much upside is left before it bursts. That is the uncomfortable part of the investment decision. Take the Nasdaq-100. Since the beginning of 2020, it had gained around 233% (as of 10 September 2026 COB). Over the equivalent period starting in 1991, the gain was around 450%. And the 1990s rally was far from finished. From that point in September 1997, the index rose another 327% before reaching its March 2000 peak. Then it lost 83% by October 2002. So if you believe history could repeat, you also have to consider the possibility of substantial further upside before a painful crash. The same historical episode used to justify getting out can illustrate the cost of getting out too soon. Selling too early can mean missing a spectacular rally. Selling too late can mean giving much of it back. Timing the exit is an art, with rather more luck involved than we usually admit.

TSMC Is Becoming Taiwan’s Stock Market One company now represents an extraordinary 41.4% of the entire Taiwan Stock Exchange’s market capitalization. That company is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). The transformation has been remarkable: TSMC’s share of Taiwan’s equity market increased from 16.3% in 2016 to 22.7% in 2019, 28.9% in 2021, 38.3% in 2025, and approximately 41.4% by August 2026. In other words, roughly 2 out of every 5 dollars invested in Taiwan’s listed equity market are now represented by a single company. This concentration reflects something much bigger than Taiwan itself. TSMC sits at the center of the global semiconductor ecosystem and is one of the principal beneficiaries of the AI infrastructure boom. Demand for advanced chips from AI accelerators, data centers, smartphones and high-performance computing continues to increase the strategic importance of leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing. We remain bullish on TSMC over a 3–5 year horizon and consider it one of the highest-quality ways to gain exposure to the structural growth of AI infrastructure. However, the company’s extraordinary market dominance also creates concentration and geopolitical risks. Rather than chasing the stock after strong rallies, we would accumulate TSMC gradually on corrections, while complementing the position with other parts of the semiconductor value chain—particularly ASML, Broadcom, Nvidia and semiconductor equipment suppliers.

According to UBS, copper demand from data centers is expected to increase sharply through 2030 as the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure adds another major source of consumption to an already tight market. At the same time, the era of easily accessible, low-cost copper appears to be coming to an end. Many new deposits are located in remote regions, at extreme depths, or contain lower-grade ores, making future production increasingly expensive. New mining projects are also unlikely to fully offset the natural decline in output from existing mines, creating persistent pressure on global supply. Copper prices have already responded to this tightening environment, recently reaching record levels of around $14,800 per tonne. Yet the longer-term investment case goes well beyond AI. Against a backdrop of stagnating supply, copper consumption continues to rise due to the global energy transition—including renewable energy, electric vehicles and massive investment in electricity grids—while the explosive expansion of AI data centers is creating an additional source of structural demand. We remain structurally bullish on copper over a 3–5 year investment horizon, but after the recent move to record highs we would avoid aggressively chasing the metal at current prices. Among equities, we would favor high-quality producers with large existing reserves, relatively low production costs and the ability to expand output without relying entirely on greenfield projects. Freeport-McMoRan, BHP, Rio Tinto, Antofagasta and Lundin Mining are particularly interesting candidates for further analysis.

European Gold ETFs Attracted a Record $7.9 Billion European exchange-traded funds backed by physical gold attracted a record $7.9 billion in August 2026, increasing their gold holdings by 54.2 tonnes, according to a report by the World Gold Council (WGC). The United Kingdom accounted for the largest share of inflows, at $4.4 billion, marking the country’s second-largest monthly inflow on record. French funds attracted $1.5 billion. Globally, gold ETFs recorded $18 billion in inflows in August, the second-largest monthly inflow in dollar terms on record, according to the organization. Supported by strong investor inflows and rising gold prices, total assets under management increased by 16% during the month to $615 billion. Global gold ETF holdings increased by 121 tonnes to an all-time high of 4,189 tonnes. Since the beginning of the year, gold ETFs have attracted $29 billion in net inflows and increased their physical gold holdings by approximately 160 tonnes. The record inflows into European gold ETFs, combined with global holdings reaching an all-time high, suggest that gold demand is broadening beyond central banks and Asian investors toward Western institutional and portfolio investors. This is an important structural signal: if ETF accumulation continues while central-bank buying remains strong, incremental investment demand could tighten the available physical market and provide further support to gold prices.

🚀 Another milestone for Herculis Gold Coin ($XAUH). We’re proud to announce the launch of the XAUH/USDT liquidity pool on Uniswap v2, bringing deep on-chain liquidity to $XAUH on Ethereum. Ethereum investors can now buy and sell $XAUH instantly on Uniswap — directly from their own wallets, 24/7. 🪙 1 XAUH = 1 gram of physical Swiss-stored LBMA 999.9 fine gold No traditional brokerage. No market-hour restrictions. Just connect your wallet and access physical gold through the Ethereum ecosystem. 🔗 Trade XAUH/USDT on Uniswap: app.uniswap.org/explore/toke… Swiss gold. On-chain liquidity. Global access. $XAUH #Gold #RWA #Tokenization #Ethereum #Uniswap #DeFi

🎙Join the WHALE-SAILORS x HERCULIS AMA – Learn, Connect & Earn!🎙 Herculis Gold Coin (XAUH) is a payment token designed to provide a digital alternative to traditional gold investments and payment instruments. Each Herculis Gold Coin is backed by 1 gram of 999.9 Swiss LBMA fine gold stored in secure vaults in Switzerland, making it fully redeemable for physical gold from 500 gram. The coin is powered by JAMTON NETWORK, Layer 2 protocol for TON and POLKADOT blockchain technology, ensuring that it can be traded, transferred, and stored securely without the costs and complexity associated with physical gold ownership. Event Details: 📍 Venue: WHALE-SAILORS 📅 Date: Sep 9th, 2026 ⏰ Time: 16: 00- CEST 🏆 Prize: XAUH 🤸Official Links: 💜HERCULIS: 📱Website | 🐦X (Twitter (👤 Facebook ( 🪙 CoinMarketCap 💜WHALESSAILORS: | ✈️Telegram | 🐦X (Twitter)

Robinhood is having a monster day. $HOOD surged 13% as Robinhood Chain smashed its previous records, generating approximately $4 million in onchain revenue on September 2—more than any other blockchain that day. Its ambition is to bring stocks, ETFs, private assets and other real-world assets onchain—enabling 24/7 trading, self-custody, lending and integration with decentralized finance. Morgan Stanley just upgraded $HOOD to Overweight with a $150 price target, while Scotiabank initiated coverage with a Sector Outperform rating. Robinhood is increasingly evolving from a retail brokerage into a vertically integrated onchain financial infrastructure platform. If Robinhood Chain succeeds in moving meaningful volumes of equities, ETFs and private assets onchain, $HOOD could capture economics across trading, tokenization, custody, lending and settlement. $HOOD offers one of the clearest public-equity plays on the convergence of traditional finance, tokenization and crypto infrastructure.

Central banks remain positive in July with net buying of 23t. - The National Bank of Poland continued its gold accumulation streak, with 8t purchased this month. The country has accumulated 640t of gold – against its target of 700t – or approximately 28% of its total reserves. - In its 21st consecutive month of buying the Central Bank of China added 20t to its gold reserves in July. China has added 60t to its gold reserves y-t-d. China’s official gold reserves now stand at 8% of total reserves, or around 2,366t. - The Central Bank of Uzbekistan sold 1t this month; its y-t-d gold purchases stand at 40t. Uzbekistan’s gold now stands at 87% of total reserves, or about 431t. - The Czech National Bank also bought 2t of gold this month in its 41st consecutive month of net buying. The central bank has bought 12t y-t-d, bringing its gold holdings to 6% of its total reserves, or 84t. - The National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) bought 1t of gold this month. On a y-t-d basis the NBK has accumulated 29t of gold and is one of the top five gold accumulators globally. Kazakhstan’s gold holdings stand at 75% of its total reserves. - The Central Bank of Russia continued its net sales in July, offloading a further 6t of gold. Russia has sold 50t of gold y-t-d, lowering its total gold holdings to 2,277t. - The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey sold 1t of gold this month, bringing its total sales so far this year to 85t.