Much of this year’s early optimism created by the opening up and relaxing of covid restrictions has been overshadowed by the recent events in Ukraine. Turbulence and heightened volatility abound, while inflation and technology remained on everyone’s minds.

,In this issue of BFI Bullion’s Quarterly Digger, inflation remained a major concern and is argu­ably one of the biggest threats we face today. When discussing inflation and its impact, most experts and the financial press tend to examine the matter from an academic or technical perspective, pre­occupied with monetary policy implica­tions, potential early rate hikes, and what the effect on asset classes will be. While these are all important considera­tions for investors trying to anticipate how inflation will impact their own portfolios, they must not pull their focus away from the bigger picture.

Then, new technologies also captured the public’s imagina­tion, like the Metaverse mania, promising a bright, connected and exciting future. Why are people talking about it? Is there a real opportunity in this space, or if this is just a case of jumping on a bandwagon that isn’t even built yet…and per­haps may never be?

Finally, we introduce you to BFI’s new online onboarding process, and share what covid taught us about safe boxes and storage services for your precious metals.