It’s a holiday weekend in the United States, and we thought it would be a good time to revisit some of the big ideas that our guests shared with us over the past year.

Meeting the new commercial realities created by the globalization of the natural gas market, the energy transition to a lower carbon economy, and the rise of artificial intelligence requires new and smarter markets in which participants are empowered with new financial technology.

And building those smarter markets will require big ideas. We hope you enjoy revisiting these moments and ideas with us.

Our guests featured on this episode are:

-Robert Friedland, Founder & Executive Chairman, Ivanhoe Mines

-Brad Hitch, Director of LNG Trading, EQT Corporation

-Samantha Dart, Head of Natural Gas Research, Goldman Sachs

-Susan Sakmar, Visiting Professor, Univ. of Houston & Board Member, Flex LNG

-Mark Lewis, Head of Research, Andurand Capital

-Hannah Hauman, Global Head of Carbon Trading, Trafigura

-Andy Home, Senior Metals Columnist, Thomson Reuters

-Andrea Hotter, Special Correspondent, Fastmarkets

-Ben Hunt, Author of Epsilon Theory & Co-Founder/CIO, Second Foundation Partners

-Michelle Finneran Dennedy, Chief Data Strategy Officer, Abaxx Technologies

-Dr. David Bray, Distinguished Chair of the Accelerator & CEO/Principal, Stimson Center & LDA Ventures, Inc.

-Josh Crumb, Founder & CEO, Abaxx Technologies

On this week’s installment of Gold for the 21st Century, we welcome Steve Lowe into the SmarterMarkets™ studio. Steve is Former Managing Director, Co-Head of Global Base and Precious Metals at Scotiabank. David Greely sits down with Steve to talk about his experience and insights into the gold markets from his time leading the iconic Scotia metals business. They also discuss what market infrastructure and technology the gold market needs now – and what could be the opportunity for the next iconic gold business of the 21st century.

This week on Gold for the 21st Century, we welcome Michael DiRienzo, President & CEO at The Silver Institute, into the SmarterMarkets™ studio. David Greely sits down with Michael to discuss the outlook for silver, its role in the energy transition, and the role it can and should play in investor portfolios and our financial system in the 21st century.

We continue Gold for the 21st Century this week with Josh Crumb, Founder & CEO of Abaxx Technologies. SmarterMarkets™ host David Greely sits down with Josh to discuss how gold has shaped Josh’s vision and mission to build smarter markets throughout his career. They also talk about how the gold market is where the many dimensions of Abaxx come together as it launches a physically deliverable kilobar gold futures contract in Singapore through Abaxx Exchange, a gold pool through Abaxx Spot, and deploys the new financial technology that will pave the way to full digital title.

This week on Gold for the 21st Century, we welcome Gregor Gregerson, Founder of Silver Bullion Group, into the SmarterMarkets™ studio. David Greely sits down with Gregor to discuss the role of gold and precious metals in protecting wealth, the physical infrastructure and technology required, and why creating and maintaining trust remains the foundation of a functional financial system.

We continue Gold for the 21st Century this week with Don Casturo, Founding Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Quantix Commodities. David Greely sits down with Don to discuss the role of gold in protecting investors' portfolios, the drivers of recent gold market performance, and how de-dollarization is changing the way gold trades relative to other assets.

We present a Special Episode of SmarterMarkets™, bringing you exclusive interviews from the FT Commodities Global Summit 2025.

SmarterMarkets™ returned to the annual Financial Times Commodities Global Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland this March, where commodity traders get together to talk about the markets and how they’re navigating them. In retrospect, this year was the calm before the storm of the wide-ranging U.S. tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.

We partnered with the FT to once again interview commodities markets participants to ask them about the big developments being discussed at the conference this year. We also discussed the ways that markets and market infrastructure need to change to keep pace with the changing commodities trading landscape and what tools and technologies they need most.

We've compiled a selection of those interviews into this Special Episode of SmarterMarkets™ with an introduction by Leslie Hook, Natural Resources Editor for the Financial Times.

If you would like to listen to the full interviews, they are available on the SmarterMarkets™ Presents media portal.

Our guests in order of appearance in this episode are:

Leslie Hook – Natural Resources Editor, FT

Helima Croft – Managing Director and Global Head of Commodity Strategy, RBC Capital Markets

Mark Kristoff – CEO, Traxys

Fernanda Ávila – Congresswoman & Former Secretary of Mining, Ministry of Economy, Argentina

JP Aubin – Co-CEO, BGC Group

Sacha Lifschitz – Head of Battery Materials, Abaxx Exchange

This week on Gold for the 21st Century, we welcome Wade Brennan, CEO & Co-Founder of Kilo Capital, into the SmarterMarkets™ studio. David Greely sits down with Wade to discuss the effects of the recent tariff-related price volatility and pricing dislocations on the users of gold, as well as the role of bullion banking in the gold market of the 21st century.