The current gold rush is an alarm signal – record prices point to dwindling confidence in the international financial system. The USA, for example, is groaning under 38 trillion US dollars in debt. In 2025 alone, more than 1,000 billion was spent on debt interest – more than on the entire US military! Although the USA needs ever more money, central banks are reducing their holdings of US bonds and building up their gold reserves. It is unclear how this shift away from the dollar will play out. What is certain is that financial risks are rising. Anyone in industry hoping for “top priority” government hydrogen funding is also ignoring geopolitical realities – politicians have bigger concerns these days.
What is to be done? Take action, don’t just wait and see!
Since the financial crisis in 2008, stress tests have been mandatory for European banks. There are lessons to be learned from this. Business leaders would be well advised to ask themselves the radical question now: would their business model survive without a single cent of funding? If the answer is no, they are not running a viable business, but a political project.
In a world of volatile capital, hydrogen must shine through technical excellence and return prospects, not subsidy approvals.
In my view, the question must be: how do we become innovative enough that capital flows increasingly into hydrogen rather than gold or AI?
Sovereignty does not come from state life support, but from commercial viability. In the past, we have delivered solutions that were convincing both technically and financially. Pursuing this path with courage and independence is the order of the day. If policymakers would then allow compelling innovations and products to flourish, the stress on business models would ease.
This will not turn hydrogen into gold. But it could then attract capital.
