Spooked by the country’s escalating debt crisis, Greeks yanked billions of deposits out of the country’s banks in recent months until the government shuttered them. Where is the money going? While some of it is likely stuffed under mattresses or deposited in overseas accounts, a chunk has already been used to buy gold — gold coins to be exact. “In June, we experienced twice the expected demand for Sovereign bullion coins from our customers based in Greece,� the U.K.’s Royal Mint said in a statement. The Royal Mint is a government body that is responsible for producing the coinage for the U.K. as well as over 60 other countries — around 15% of the world’s supply, according to its website. It started selling Sovereign coins, made from 22 carat gold, online for investors last September. Prices start from £198.47 ($311.88). The Mint, which is the world’s largest in terms of export, declined to say how many coins it has sold but said the rise in Greek demand was twice the monthly average over the last five months. The number of gold coins sold to Greek investors likely represents a small fraction of the total market for physical gold, where demand totaled about $171,511 million dollars in 2014, according to World Gold Council data. Gold is traditionally considered a safe-haven asset and demand tends to spike in times of heightened risk. Monday saw a broad-based sell-off in financial markets around the world, largely triggered by concerns about Greece’s future in the Eurozone. The price of gold on the London spot market rose almost 1% to $1,188.07 a troy ounce. On Tuesday, the price was down 0.6% at $1,172.59 an ounce. The price of gold is down 11% year-over-year. Some analysts say only a deeper Greek crisis would potentially push the price higher. “Only a flare-up of the eurozone debt crisis should trigger broad-based safe-haven demand and provide lasting support to gold. We maintain a longer-term bearish view,� said Carsten Menke, a commodities research analyst at Julius Baer.

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