GOLD IN WORLD MARKETS: KNOWN UNKNOWNS

Gold is a recognized marker of global economic development in conditions with a large uncertainty component. Global gold markets demonstrate both a completely understandable situation that has developed over the past decades and qualitatively new processes. To analyze the development processes of global gold markets, a systemic-structural approach is used, which is a tool for logically «assembling» cause-and-effect chains in the considered area of economic and political relations. Against the backdrop of the rapid development of financial technologies and growing interest in alternative investment forms, the phenomenon of digital gold - a format for owning precious metals implemented through digital platforms, tokens and exchange products - is becoming especially relevant. This segment has become a logical continuation of the digitalization processes that have engulfed the global financial sector, and today is perceived as an effective bridge between the traditional value of physical gold and the convenience of modern electronic investments. These processes make us think about the need to make changes to the way Russian government agencies and companies work with gold.