Why gold and silver will lose value in a few years

Why gold and silver will lose their value in a few years: against conventional wisdom

A critical analysis of the future of precious metals in the era of technological disruption

A few years ago, during a casual drink at a café with friends and acquaintances, the subject of investing came up. When I shared my view that gold and silver would, at some point in the near future, fluctuate as violently as Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, I was laughed at. “Gold and silver have existed as a medium of exchange for more than 5,000 to 6,000 years,” was the standard response. “How could something that has stood the test of time ever lose its value significantly?”

To this day, I am still laughed at when I make these statements. Yet the developments I foresaw back then are now slowly becoming reality. The prices of gold and silver are fluctuating increasingly violently, driven by technological innovations and geopolitical developments that are changing the foundations of these markets.

In this blog, I will explain in detail how I arrived at this conclusion and what this means for the future of our financial systems, the economy, and the way we look at value creation.

The real value remains, the financial value does not

Let us first make an important clarification. I personally find gold and silver beautiful, not only as a potential medium of exchange, but especially as jewelry. The value of gold and silver will therefore always exist, even if the financial systems were to collapse completely as in 1929. After all, gold and silver have been worn by women for thousands of years as a symbol of status and value, and in many cultures, particularly in Islamic countries, they are traditionally given as a dowry.

The aesthetic and cultural value of gold and silver will therefore never go to zero. But the same applies to a computer, a house, or even sand. Sand will always be needed as a raw material and will never lose its value entirely. Our human capital, such as our brains, love, touch, and care, likewise has no value of zero.

Yet this does not mean that the financial value of silver and gold will not fluctuate or even decline structurally. We have recently seen (2025-2026) that silver rose more than 100% in less than a month, almost 200% in less than six months, only to subsequently lose nearly 45% of its value in one week. On Friday, February 5, 2026, we saw silver rise by more than 18% in just two hours! We see the same pattern with gold: rapid rises followed by equally rapid declines.

This extreme volatility is precisely what I predicted years ago… And now the question: how can this be?

The perfect storm: geopolitics, AI, and algorithmic trading

The current price fluctuations are actually caused by a complex mix of factors. On the one hand, geopolitical developments play a role. A single tweet from Donald Trump can cause the stock market and, by extension, precious metals to fluctuate rapidly, depending on the type of news being reported (CNBC, 2026).

But the biggest change comes from artificial intelligence and quantitative systems. We see, for example, when following trends, that computers with generative AI tools such as Claude and Gemini have now gained access to move fully autonomously in financial markets and buy and sell gold and silver without human intervention. This development has already been underway for more than 20 years through high-frequency traders who use advanced algorithms that go beyond generative AI (Metals Mint, 2025).

At the same time, knowledge is gradually being made available to a broad public through (Gen)AI. Even when many people do not fully understand what the computers are precisely doing, trades can still proceed automatically. This allows less experienced investors to influence market movements as well, because AI systems execute transactions based on enormous datasets and patterns invisible to the human eye. This increases the speed and complexity of price fluctuations and creates a new dynamic in financial markets.

A combination of algorithmic trading, artificial intelligence, and the rapid spread of news reports thus causes increased fluctuations. AI-driven trading systems, especially those in the hands of big tech with very high transaction speeds, analyze millions of data points per second, from macroeconomic indicators to sentiment on social media, and execute transactions in milliseconds. This causes so-called “momentum loops”: when AI systems make purchases, the price rises, which activates other AI algorithms to buy as well, pushing the price further up in a self-reinforcing process (Verma, 2026).

In other words, simply put, computers drive the prices of gold and silver rapidly up or down, and people have little control over this. It is as if a group of superintelligent robots simultaneously decides to buy or sell something, causing the market to swing in a flash.

And then, of course, we also have politics. For example, we saw in the past six months (2025-2026) how geopolitics and trade policy have influenced precious metal prices in an unprecedented manner. President Trump, for example, reintroduced tariffs in early 2025, including a levy of 25% on all imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% on imports from China. These measures led to a wave of economic uncertainty that drove investors to safe havens, causing gold and silver to rise. As soon as the levies are reduced or disappear on any given day, however, gold and silver fall again.

And then we have the recent tariff threats from Trump against eight European countries in January 2026. Threats of 10% to 25% tariffs, due to the Greenland issue, drove gold to $4,755 per troy ounce and silver to $94.08 per ounce. The VIX index rose above 20, showing great uncertainty in the market.

Simply put: because of the news that Trump wanted extra taxes, investors became frightened and quickly bought gold and silver as a safe investment. This caused prices to rise rapidly. This shows that the value of precious metals can fluctuate strongly due to political events, even if the economy itself does not change.

And combined with algo trading and AI-driven trading, this is a perfect mix for enormous price fluctuations. In other words, the prices of gold and silver can rise or fall sharply within minutes or hours, not only due to real economic changes, but mainly because smart computers react rapidly to news, social media messages, and trading rules. For people, this concretely means that the market has become much more unpredictable and that traditional safe havens such as gold and silver no longer offer stable protection. And in the near future, I expect even greater price fluctuations, because computers and (Gen)AI are becoming increasingly smarter. Whoever has the most computing power and the best data can respond faster to market changes and thereby influence prices. This means, for example, that a company with thousands of servers and access to real-time news, social media data, and economic indicators can buy or sell within milliseconds, while ordinary investors can hardly respond to this. In other words, the market is becoming faster and wilder, and small players have hardly any control over the movements of gold and silver.

The diamond parable: a warning from the past

In addition to (super)computers, we also have to deal with other developments, such as innovation, renewal, and alternative value storage methods. These factors can further influence the demand for gold and silver, because new technologies and materials can partially take over the same functions, making traditional precious metals less essential for certain applications.

For example, the most convincing example that I always use to support my argument is the diamond. Diamonds, which have been cherished by women and elites for more than 2000 years, have lost much of their value over the past decade. The peak of diamond prices was in 2015, after which the price began to fall when lab-grown diamonds entered the market.

In 2018, lab-grown diamonds were still sold at a discount of 20% compared to natural diamonds. Nowadays, that discount is 80% to 90% (McKinsey & Company, 2025). The average wholesale price for a one-carat lab-grown diamond fell from approximately $4,200 in 2018 to only $168 in 2025: a staggering decline of 96% (Forbes, 2025)!

This dramatic price decline was caused by a combination of technological advances in production methods, such as High-Pressure High-Temperature (HPHT) and Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD), and an enormous increase in supply through mass production in China and India (Reuters, 2025).

In simple words, this means: new technologies made it much easier and cheaper to make diamonds in a laboratory. At the same time, countries such as China and India produced an enormous amount of these lab diamonds. Because there were suddenly many more diamonds available than before, the price dropped enormously. It is comparable to when a store suddenly has much more of a popular product in stock than is needed: the price automatically goes down because there is more supply than demand.

The lesson of lab-grown diamonds is in any case clear: when technology breaks through the scarcity of a valuable material, the price can collapse, regardless of centuries-old tradition or cultural significance.

The future of gold and silver: similar developments

We will see the same comparable developments with gold and silver as with diamonds. Although silver and gold are still essential for electrical devices, particularly in AI hardware and data centers where gold is used for reliable connectors and silver for its superior conductivity, increasingly sustainable alternatives are being devised.

Urban mining and the recycling of old mobile phones and electronics is becoming increasingly sophisticated. With sensor technology and AI-driven sorting systems, gold and silver can be recovered from e-waste and directly processed into new devices. This process is fully automated, making recycling much faster and making us less dependent on newly mined metals (Metals Mint, 2025).

Simply put, the above means: old phones, laptops, and other electronics contain, for example, small amounts of gold and silver. With smart machines and AI, these metals can be extracted from old devices at lightning speed and reused. For example, an old smartphone can contain enough gold for a new chip, and an old motherboard can provide silver for new electronics. This ensures that we need to extract fewer new metals from the ground, which is cheaper and better for the environment.

In addition, alternative materials are being developed that can replace the unique properties of gold and silver in certain applications. While gold and silver are currently still indispensable for AI chips, data centers, and high-quality electronics, technological progress will eventually make replacements possible here as well.

Examples of alternative materials include:

• Copper, nickel, and lithium, which are needed for electric vehicles and energy infrastructure;
• Cobalt and graphite, which are used in batteries;
• Rare earth metals such as neodymium and dysprosium, which are important for magnets in motors and wind turbines.

Other metals such as palladium, platinum, and rhodium are indispensable in the automotive industry and chemical processes, and uranium plays a role in energy production.

Incidentally, it is worth mentioning that the “sharing economy” is on the rise, which means that people will increasingly share products and services rather than owning them themselves. This reduces the demand for new materials and raw materials, because existing items are used more efficiently. For scarce raw materials such as gold and silver, this could mean that their value and demand decrease, especially when technological alternatives and recycling further reduce the need for new metals. More information about the sharing economy and what society might look like in the near future will follow in a new blog that I will publish.

The era of abundance: the vision of technocrats

The concept of “The Next Stage is Abundance” is increasingly being mentioned by leading technocrats at the national level and during international forums such as Davos (2026).

Peter Diamandis, author of “Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think,” for example, emphasizes that exponential technologies have the potential to elevate everyone on earth. He points out that AI is the fastest-growing technology he has ever seen, with computing power increasing by a factor of 10 every 6 months (Diamandis, 2024).

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, also state, for example, that we are ultimately moving toward a world in which both the knowledge economy and the production economy will have lower costs than ever before (World Economic Forum, 2026). This concretely means that producing goods and working with knowledge and information will cost much less in the future. Technology and automation will ensure that companies can perform tasks faster, smarter, and more cheaply than before. For companies, this also means that they can operate more efficiently, enter new markets more quickly, and generate more profit with fewer resources. For society, this can lead to cheaper products and services, more access to knowledge and technology, and a greater possibility for innovation and entrepreneurship.

Musk also states, for example, that AI and robotics form “the pathway to abundance.” He predicts that when AI and robotics become ubiquitous and freely or almost freely available, this will lead to explosive growth of the world economy that is “truly beyond all precedent” (CBS News, 2026). This concretely means that the production costs of goods and services will fall dramatically because AI and robots can replace human labor without wage costs, pension contributions, or vacation days. This makes mass production possible at a fraction of current costs, leading to an abundance of products accessible to everyone.

Musk also suggests, to make it even more concrete, that the coming technological revolutions can eradicate poverty and raise the standard of living worldwide, making traditional economic models based on scarcity and competition for resources irrelevant. In such a society of abundance, gold and silver lose their function as a secure store of wealth, because the underlying fear of shortages and financial instability, which has given these metals value for centuries, simply disappears.

And in the near future, when we can recycle and reuse materials almost completely, and rare earth metals can be replaced by abundant alternatives, the intrinsic value of gold and silver as a store of wealth will decrease. This vision of technological abundance is no longer distant science fiction; the foundations are already being laid by companies working on more efficient extraction, better recycling, and material substitution.

The AI bubble and monetary policy measures

We are currently also dealing with another hype, namely an AI bubble. Companies that develop AI suddenly seem to be worth an enormous amount, simply because everyone believes that AI will change the future. Investors are then massively buying into tech stocks, even at companies that are not making any profit at all. This drives prices up quickly, but can just as quickly cause them to fall again.

Due to this technological hype, traditional safe investments such as gold and silver will likely become less popular and rise less in value than technology companies. Young people who have grown up with digital currencies, apps, and rapid technological innovations attach less value to physical metals and more often choose digital investments and tech companies.

In addition, the printing of dollars causes higher inflation, because in 2025 alone, almost three times as many dollars were added as during the COVID period! This is currently causing the prices of stocks and precious metals such as gold and silver to rise. Most of that extra money goes to the financial markets, causing prices to become (artificially) higher. But this is and remains only a short-lived hype. If the prices of everything keep rising (meaning higher inflation), people will eventually need money for important things such as food and a roof over their heads. They will then be forced to withdraw money from the stock market. As a result, the prices of gold, silver, and even AI companies will likely fall again.

In short, this creates a dangerous situation. The rise of gold and silver does not always come from real value, but from speculation and the printing of money. When the current bubble eventually bursts, and history shows that all bubbles eventually burst, the consequences for people who own gold, silver, or AI stocks can be very significant.

More information about the AI bubble will follow in another blog. If you want to read my predictions for 2026, click here.

Conclusion: the new reality of value

The conclusion is clear: gold and silver are no longer the ultimate safe place to keep your money. Geopolitical uncertainty, algorithmic trading, technological abundance that is coming, and the rise of new investments together form a situation that puts considerable pressure on the role of precious metals as an investment. The aesthetic and cultural value of gold and silver will of course continue to exist, just as with real estate, but financially speaking, they are losing their old certainty.

It is therefore important to analyze markets carefully and not automatically assume that gold and silver will always remain a safe haven. This also applies to other assets, such as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies; they too cannot rise forever. History shows that no possession is immune to technological changes and shifting markets.

The future is in any case for people who dare to let go of old certainties and dare to seize new opportunities. For investors, this means that they must look beyond old myths and prepare themselves for a world in which value is determined by usability, innovation, and technology, rather than the scarcity of metals that have been admired for thousands of years.

In short, the world is changing faster than ever, and gold and silver are no exception. The prices of these precious metals can also remain extremely volatile in the near future: the value can, for example, rise by 100% one day and fall by almost 50% the next day, something we have seen frequently in the past with other markets as well. It is therefore important to remain vigilant, analyze markets carefully, and not automatically assume that what worked in the past will continue to work in the future. Those who want to protect their wealth must critically follow the economic, technological, and geopolitical forces behind these markets, because old patterns can quickly disappear in a time of unprecedented change. And of course, the organizations that are now revising their governance, ethics, and strategy for this new reality are taking the lead

This article is intended for educational purposes and does not constitute financial advice. Always conduct your own research before making investment decisions.

References

• CBS News. (2026, januari 22). Elon Musk, a fierce Davos critic, tells World Economic Forum that robots will outnumber humans. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elon-musk-davos-world-economic-forum/
• CNBC. (2026, februari 9). Gold and silver price swings are powering algo traders and machine-learning funds. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/09/gold-silver-price-volatility-quant-trading-algorithm-hedge-fund.html
• Diamandis, P. H. (2024, maart 28). The Great AI Debate. https://www.diamandis.com/blog/abundance-summit-2024-the-great-ai-debate
• Forbes. (2025, maart 22). Lab-Grown Diamonds Boom: Is It Game Over For Mined Diamonds? https://www.forbes.com/sites/garthfriesen/2025/03/22/lab-grown-diamonds-boom-is-it-game-over-for-mined-diamonds/
• McKinsey & Company. (2025). Lab-grown diamonds: Next steps for the diamond industry. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/metals-and-mining/our-insights/the-diamond-industry-is-at-an-inflection-point
• Metals Mint. (2025). How AI Effects Gold and Silver Prices. https://metalsmint.com/how-ai-effects-gold-and-silver-prices/
• Reuters. (2025, oktober 23). World Diamond Council head says lab-grown gems losing their sparkle. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/world-diamond-council-head-says-lab-grown-gems-losing-their-sparkle-2025-10-23/
• Verma, A. (2026, januari). The Midas Touch: How AI is Secretly Fueling the Skyrocketing Rates of Gold and Silver. Medium. https://medium.com/@ajayverma23/the-midas-touch-how-ai-is-secretly-fueling-the-skyrocketing-rates-of-gold-and-silver-e86ece65c44e
• World Economic Forum. (2026, januari 24). Elon Musk on why technology could shape a more abundant future. https://www.weforum.org/stories/2026/01/elon-musk-technology-abundant-future-davos-2026/

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