Recently, Bloomberg reported that you can now buy gold bars from vending machines in a GS Retail Co. convenience store in the Gangnam neighborhood of South Korea.
Costco was the first to start selling gold bars—and running out of them. In South Korea, vending machines currently sell them.
In one sense or another, it appears that people crave gold.
This week, Bloomberg revealed that a GS Retail Co. convenience store in Seoul’s affluent Gangnam neighborhood had a vending machine selling gold bars. The bars range in weight from less than 1 gram to 37.5 grams, and the prices start at about 88,000 won ($64) and change every day. Introduced in 2022, these devices are currently available in 30 locations around the country.
According to the survey, South Koreans are following the lead of other investors worldwide by purchasing physical gold and fractional shares. This is due to the general public’s fascination with a wide range of asset classes, including meme stocks and cryptocurrencies.
What is the one thing that the United States has in common with us? those who desire to abandon the fiat currency system.
Bloomberg was informed by a GS representative that “we are seeing about 30 million won of sales per month.” Customers are drawn to the gold vending machine because of the growing trend of micro-investing and the growing need for safe-haven assets.
Investors’ “fear of missing out when everything rallies,” according to Park Sang-Hyun, an economist at HI Investment & Securities in Seoul, also played a role in the scene.
He added: “Feeling uncertainty about the global economy prompts safe-haven demand.”
The rival convenience store CU in South Korea swiftly ran out of its ultralight gold cards; customers in their 30s had such high demand that the 1-gram versions vanished in two days.
According to a statement by BGF Retail Co., as of May 31, CU had sold 95% of its 770 gold pieces, helped by prices that had dropped below market rates. The network has not disclosed a definite date for the introduction of gold bars weighing 2 to 10 grams.
In response to the growing demand for gold, online bank Kbank, which has over 10 million users, launched a service on May 9 that lets customers purchase gold bars weighing between 1.875 and 37.5 grams and receive free delivery.
“With the price of gold recently topping $2,400 per ounce, investing in gold has become a popular way,” Kbank said in a statement.
Late last year, I said this about Costco: “It’s an incredible commentary on the average American citizen.” Americans are literally choosing to transact U.S. dollars for gold.”
“Just because it’s happening on a website that says ‘Costco’ and the transaction is being consummated by housewives named Florence doesn’t change the fact that enough people thought converting U.S. dollars into hard assets was a high enough priority that these bars sold out,” said.
“These aren’t shoppers heading over to Kitco — these are people casually picking up some gold when they buy dog food and toilet paper. And if you think that’s crazy now, wait until we hit a period of volatility.”
Recently, GreatGameIndia reported that according to the Times of India, India’s central bank, the RBI, has moved 100 tons of gold from the UK to domestic vaults because the stock was increasing abroad.
