A yuan-based price coupled with physical settlement and increased domestic demand could end up becoming the hammer that breaks paper trading’s grip on the international gold price. China’s policy makers, under such circumstances, need do nothing more than sit back and watch as physical demand from China drives prices higher through the new market mechanisms. It would become an ultimate irony should statist, communist China become the driving force that restored free market economics in the gold market. In the end, the ability to monitor, defend and advance the value of its gold reserves might be the real driving force behind China’s application for admission to the international price-setting club.