Thank you Lorimer and Junius for your insights here. I don't often hear such detailed criticism of paper gold like GLD. I always found GLD's structure to be a bit strange. They so famously claim that they are 100% backed but obstinately refuse to give investors access to any of the 'claimed' gold. Why? There are many profitable gold selling businesses in the world. GLD could even charge exorbitant fees for delivery of said gold but they don't for some strange reason.

The frequently referenced GLD subcustodian audit loophole makes me question this fund even more. What guarantees do we have that they have not leased the gold from someone else? i.e. HSBC. Are they leasing it to someone else? How many claims are there on the gold aka hypothecation? GLD's structure seems to be deliberately vague and intentionally flawed. GLD's custodian, HSBC, with their long history of fraud certainly do not inspire confidence either.

For anyone interested but have not heard about CNBC's Bob Pisani's visit to GLD's gold vault, I recommend checking it out. His visit is documented in a segment called Gold Rush: The Mother Lode. This entire segment was organized by GLD's management to prove that their gold actually exists but the gold bar held up by Mr. Pisani displayed a serial of ZJ6752. This serial did not show up on the latest bar list during that time. Cheviot Asset Management’s Ned Naylor-Leyland discovered that this "GLD" bar actually belonged to ETF Securities.