⚔ Geopolitics risk-off · 6–18 months
A what‑if from the future

What if Mali ditches French CFA reserves for gold-backed plan?

Bamako announces a gold-backed regional settlement scheme to bypass the CFA franc, unsettling West African FX markets and boosting bullion demand.

23%
our model probability
over 6–18 months
prediction markets — wisdom of the crowd
loading live odds…
Empirically anchored 23% · 90% range 5–41% · 40 analogues · measured class monetary_order 99% in 18 mo · 3% held back for the unknown
how we built this number — every step
Measured class rate — monetary_order ≈2.8549/yr → 99% in 18 mo99%
Analyst prior · editorial share 25% of the class25%
Pooled · weight 87%24%
Crowd — no liquid market
Reserve 3% · no extremizing (×1.0)24%
Published23%

The class rate is measured from our dated, sourced event library (decade-normalized Poisson — the full table is public at base_rates.json). The variant’s share within its class is the analyst’s editorial call, published so you can audit it. A wider range means thinner precedent. Full recipe: methodology · scored at Reality Check.

The butterfly cascade

How this trigger trickles across markets, left → right — the root shock, its first‑order moves, then the ripple effects. Drag any node; tap a market for its real price history.

Resolution timeline — how this probability is moving

Our model's odds (gold) over time vs the crowd's (Polymarket, blue), from the past toward the 6–18 months horizon. Each dot is a real macro event that nudged the probability — green pushed it up, red pushed it down. Tap a dot for the source. The gold path is an illustrative reconstruction anchored to today's estimate — real dated events, not a live re-estimate history.

loading the timeline…

What it would mean

If this plays out, it is a risk-off shock. Bamako announces a gold-backed regional settlement scheme to bypass the CFA franc, unsettling West African FX markets and boosting bullion demand. The trigger decomposes into signed root‑shocks — EM currencies ▼ · Gold ▲ · Dollar/reserve confidence ▲ · Geopolitical risk ▲ · Risk appetite ▼ — which propagate through our causal graph to the markets below.

If it happens — the markets it would move

Biggest moves first. Projected moves are cascade-model priors; hist A–B% = what comparable past events actually did (measured abnormal returns), and model prior · unmeasured marks markets with no analogue backing yet. Tap any market for its price history.

MarketClassProjected move
1Volatility (VIX) VIXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartVol▲ +3.9%
hist -0.4–+6.91% · other way +3.23% (n=12)
2MicroStrategy MSTRon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -2.0%
hist -2.55–+3.88% · other way +26.92% (n=12)
3Nasdaq 100 NDXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -1.5%
hist -0.97–-0.35% · other way -0.37% (n=12)
4Bitcoin BTCon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -1.1%
hist -5.06–+1.2% · other way +5.17% (n=12)
5Solana SOLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -1.0%
hist -1.65–+0.12% · other way +0.89% (n=12)
6Tech sector XLK 📈 chartEquity▼ -1.0%
hist -0.67–+0.06% · other way -0.34% (n=12)
7Turkish lira TRY 📈 chartFX▼ -0.9%
hist -1.28–+0.01% · other way -0.62% (n=12)
8Hyperliquid (HYPE) HYPEon HyperliquidCrypto▼ -0.8%
model prior · unmeasured
9Indian rupee INR 📈 chartFX▼ -0.7%
hist -0.63–-0.12% · other way -0.1% (n=12)
10S&P 500 SPXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -0.7%
hist -0.4–-0.14% · other way +0.57% (n=12)
11Ether ETHon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -0.7%
hist -8.82–+1.27% · other way +5.13% (n=12)
12Coinbase COINon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.8%
hist -3.44–+9.0% · other way +21.23% (n=12)
13Semiconductors SMHon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.7%
hist -0.5–+0.49% · other way +2.23% (n=12)
14US dollar (DXY) DXYon Hyperliquid 📈 chartFX▲ +0.6%
hist +0.01–+0.37% · other way +0.41% (n=12)

Probable recommendation

If the scenario above plays out, the probable cross‑asset positioning → a scenario‑conditional read, not personalized investment advice
Cash / hedgeRaise cash and hold the long hedges above; this scenario is net risk-off.
For a common-man portfolio: A typical stock-heavy portfolio is at risk. Consider trimming equities, raising cash, and a small cash hedge.
Also moves (not yet on Hyperliquid): Tech sector -1.0% · Turkish lira -0.9% · Indian rupee -0.7% · Chinese yuan -0.4% · High-yield credit -0.4% · 30y Treasury yield -3bp

Historical precedent — what analogous events actually did

Across 40 analogous events (overlap‑weighted), as abnormal returns — market beta stripped, so it's the event's own effect, not the market backdrop. Shown at 20 days (persistent) and 5 days (immediate); ↺ fades = the two horizons disagree. Confidence = consistency × sample × significance.

Israel strikes Iran — Operation Rising Lion 2025-06 China retaliates to Liberation Day: 34% tariffs + rare-earth controls 2025-04 Gold tops $3,000 for the first time amid tariff and rate-cut fears 2025-03 October 2024 Iranian ballistic-missile attack on Israel 2024-10 Wagner Group mutiny against the Kremlin 2023-06 Saudi-Russia oil price war 2020-03 Chinese yuan breaks 7 per dollar; US names China manipulator 2019-08 Bitcoin Cash hash war capitulation 2018-11 North Korea sixth nuclear test 2017-09 North Korea 'fire and fury' nuclear scare 2017-08 OPEC abandons output defense, opting for market share vs US shale 2014-11 Egyptian revolution / Mubarak uprising 2011-01 US airline stocks plunge ~40% on first trading day after 9/11 2001-09 Hong Kong defends the peg with sky-high HIBOR 1997-10 Soviet August coup attempt against Gorbachev 1991-08 Tiananmen Square crackdown 1989-06 Louvre Accord 1987-02 1986 oil price collapse 1986-02 Reagan assassination attempt 1981-03 Gold peaks at $850 1980-01 Iran hostage crisis / US freezes Iranian assets 1979-11 Iranian Revolution oil shock 1978-12 JFK assassination 1963-11 Cuban Missile Crisis 1962-10 Korean War begins 1950-06 Smoot-Hawley clears the US House 1929-05 Gold tops $4,000 and silver spikes past $50 in historic squeeze 2025-10 US-China extend tariff truce by another 90 days 2025-08 US and China agree Geneva tariff truce, slashing rates 2025-05 Operation Sindoor: India strikes Pakistan after Pahalgam attack 2025-05 Tesla shares crater on DOGE political backlash and Europe sales collapse 2025-03 TSMC slumps as DeepSeek roils AI-chip demand assumptions 2025-02 Micron's weak FQ2 guidance sparks a sharp December selloff 2024-12 South Korea martial law crisis 2024-12 ASML bookings-miss crash 2024-10 Hezbollah pager and device explosions across Lebanon 2024-09 Gold tops $2,500 for the first time on Fed rate-cut bets 2024-08 Nikkei 225 record single-day rebound 2024-08 Nikkei 225 worst single-day crash since 1987 2024-08 KOSPI biggest-ever point loss triggers circuit breaker 2024-08
AssetHistory saysAbnormal (20d · 5d)HitnConfidencevs cascade
ETH ETHSHORT-7.1% · 5d -6.0%73%22 0.34✓ matches cascade
CNY CNYSHORT-0.4% · 5d -0.1%65%27 0.29✓ matches cascade
AMD AMDSHORT-1.5% · 5d -0.7%69%33 0.29✓ matches cascade
Volatility VIXLONG+4.6% · 5d +3.1%64%29 0.25✓ matches cascade
AVGO AVGOLONG+3.9% · 5d -0.6% ↺ fades63%26 0.25⚠ differs
COIN COINLONG+8.6% · 5d +2.1%62%19 0.24⚠ differs
MU MUSHORT-4.3% · 5d -2.6%64%32 0.23✓ matches cascade
TRY TRYSHORT-0.8% · 5d +1.1% ↺ fades66%26 0.22✓ matches cascade
INR INRSHORT-0.3% · 5d +0.1% ↺ fades63%26 0.21✓ matches cascade
High-yield credit HYGSHORT-0.4% · 5d -0.2%63%26 0.20✓ matches cascade
INTC INTCSHORT-1.5% · 5d -1.5%62%33 0.20✓ matches cascade
Gold XAULONG+1.4% · 5d -0.3% ↺ fades62%27 0.20·
NDX NDXSHORT-0.2% · 5d -0.9%62%32 0.18✓ matches cascade
Bitcoin BTCSHORT-4.1% · 5d -3.5%61%25 0.17✓ matches cascade

Methodology. Probability and impact are anchored to history and scored against what actually happens — wins and losses, in public, at Reality Check. Crowd odds live from Polymarket & Kalshi. By Vikas Singh, Quantitative Strategist. Updated 2026-07-03.