Eric Sepanek
SBC Founder
Eric Sepanek is the founder of Scottsdale Bullion & Coin, established in 2011. With extensive experience in the precious metals industry, he is dedicated to educating Americans on the wealth preservation power of gold and silver.
Add SBC on Google as a preferred source to see more market related news like this when you search.
Over the past few years, gold prices have ascended aggressively. Since climbing to an all-time high in January, however, price action has remained relatively flat. Many market veterans indicate that this is simply a temporary blip on a broader upward curve.
Mining legend Pierre Lassonde believes that this sideways trend is a consolidation that will eventually give way to a multi-year bull cycle, propelling gold to $17,250. Under this thesis, the United States’ skyrocketing sovereign debt is the main driver of this optimistic outlook.
Understanding Gold’s Current Cycle
When looking at daily or even monthly trends in the gold market, it’s easy to lose sight of the metal’s larger trajectory. While recent price action remains tepid, the past few years tell a completely different story. In 2025 alone, the yellow metal swelled by an incredible 64%, finding a firm baseline at higher macro levels. Within the first month of 2026, gold prices spiked from a starting point of $4,318/oz to a staggering record high of $5,414/oz.
More tellingly, prices haven’t fallen below their 2026 starting point, even through the recent consolidation phase. The picture is even clearer when zooming out to the beginning of 2024, when gold kicked off the year at just $2,051/oz. That represents a massive price appreciation of over 110% in just two years—effectively more than doubling its value. This powerful, long-term bullish trend provides the exact structural backdrop for Lassonde’s seemingly dramatic prediction.
The Case for $17,250 Gold
In an interview with Kitco, the Founder of Franco-Nevada Mining Corporation and former chairman of the World Gold Council, laid out the case for gold reaching $17,250/oz in the next three years. For context, that would represent an approximately 214% spike, an achievement the yellow metal has already proven is possible as recently as the last couple of years.
Lassonde’s central thesis revolves around the country’s grim macroeconomic outlook, especially the exploding national debt, declining dollar influence, and the fragmentation of the global economic system. This commonly shared view posits that the USD’s status as the world’s reserve currency is slowly getting replaced by gold, setting the metal up for steady growth as a pillar of a burgeoning financial order.
Macroeconomic Echoes of the 1970s
The mining executive and gold market expert draws several parallels between the country’s current macroeconomic environment and that of the 1970s through the 1980s. During this time, inflation entered double-digit territory, global dollar confidence declined, federal debt levels compounded, and a conflict in the Middle East caused a worldwide oil shock. The financial climate was defined by stagflation.
In response to these pressures, gold exploded from around $35/oz to $850/oz. This more than 2,300% increase in about a decade not only grounds Lassonde’s seemingly unbelievable prediction in historical precedent but also highlights the conditions that give rise to such growth. Today’s macroeconomic and geopolitical landscape heavily resembles these conditions, but at a more acute stage:
- S. debt stands at a staggering $39 trillion and remains on pace to hit $50 trillion by 2030.
- National debt has surpassed 100% of gross domestic product (GDP).
- Interest payments on debt alone cost $1 trillion annually.
- Gold has already more than doubled over the past few years.
- The de-dollarization push has compressed the USD share of global exchange reserves from a peak of 72% in 2001 to around 57%.
Gold is Becoming a “Currency of Last Resort”
Lassonde’s bullish gold price prediction risks stealing the spotlight from a more crucial and foundational point. Instead of merely rising with conventional tailwinds, gold’s rapid rise coincided with a fundamental shift in the global financial system.
Under normal market conditions, the metal is sought out to keep pace with inflation and diversify portfolios. However, Lassonde argued that the corrosive effects of fiscal strain, rising sovereign debt, and weakening confidence in fiat currencies, especially the USD, are triggering a transition toward gold as a cornerstone of worldwide monetary systems.
This shift away from free-floating currencies toward physical gold is already underway:
- Central banks have been on a multi-year gold-buying spree, scooping up more than 1,000 tonnes between 2022 and 2024.
- Global gold demand reached a record high of 5,000 tonnes in 2025.
- The international banking sector recognized gold as a Tier-1 asset, placing it on par with fiat currencies.