While I share the sentiment that cash is king and everybody should have some ready at all times because shit happens, author’s line of reasoning seems a bit out there: “USA mistakenly collected taxes on my assets -> buy gold”. Not keeping all your money in a single account in a jurisdiction you don’t understand well seems like a more reasonable conclusion. Fight bureaucracy with bureaucracy - authorities will still be able to freeze some of your accounts, but much harder to do that everywhere at once.