By Kane White, CEO & Founder, Britannia Bullion
Yesterday was a reminder we didn’t need, but one that matters...
On 20 October 2025, a major Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage rippled across the world, shutting down apps, banking systems, and even parts of government. It wasn’t a hack, just a technical failure. But it exposed a truth we all prefer to forget, our entire financial world now depends on technology that can fail at any moment.
What Actually Happened
The outage, which started in Amazon’s US East region, caused global chaos.
- Apps like Snapchat and Roblox stopped working. (NYTimes)
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In the UK, Lloyds, Halifax, and Bank of Scotland customers couldn’t log in or make payments. (CNN)
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HMRC, the UK’s tax authority, was hit too, leaving businesses unable to process returns or payments. (The Guardian)
According to CNET, more than 9.8 million users were affected. (CNET)
Outage tracking data from Yahoo Finance UK showed over 6,900 reports of banking access failures in just one afternoon. (Yahoo Finance UK)
This wasn’t the result of cyberwarfare, ransomware, or foreign interference. It was just a glitch.
And that’s the worrying part, a simple tech issue temporarily froze parts of the global financial system.
What This Means
The event raised one simple question:
How secure is our access to money if everything we do runs through digital systems?
Modern finance runs on layers of servers, data centres, and cloud contracts.
That’s not bad, it’s efficient. But it also means our money’s accessibility is no longer guaranteed.
Your salary, savings, mortgage, or pension could all be out of reach for hours, days, or even weeks, through no fault of your own.
Even MPs have raised questions about why so much of the UK’s financial infrastructure depends on foreign cloud providers. (Yahoo Finance UK)
It’s not paranoia, it’s a growing risk.
Gold Doesn’t Need a Password
This is where physical gold stands apart.
Holding real, tangible gold isn’t just about diversifying wealth, it’s about disconnecting from the system when it fails.
Here’s why that matters:
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Offline Ownership – You don’t need a login or server. Physical gold exists in your hands, not on a screen.
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Resilience in Crisis – From 2008’s financial crash to 2020’s lockdowns, gold has protected purchasing power when everything else was uncertain.
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Globally Recognised – No app or network required. Gold is accepted as value anywhere on earth.
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Zero Counterparty Risk – It’s a Tier 1 asset, meaning it carries no exposure to another party’s promise or system stability.
Gold doesn’t glitch, freeze, or rely on servers in Virginia. It simply exists, and that’s the point.
What We Can Learn from This
The AWS incident wasn’t an isolated event, it was a preview.
Whether it’s an outage, cyberattack, political tension, or regulatory change, digital fragility is now part of modern life.
And yet, when systems fail, the few assets that exist outside the grid, like gold, stay standing.
In a world where central banks are buying more gold than ever, it’s worth asking: why aren’t more individuals doing the same?
According to the World Gold Council, central banks bought over 400 tonnes of gold in the first half of 2025, with 95% planning to increase reserves this year. (World Gold Council)
They’re not guessing, they’re preparing.
What You Can Do
At Britannia Bullion, we make it simple to own gold your way.
Whether that’s delivered to your door or securely vaulted in Hatton Garden, your gold remains fully allocated, insured, and audit-verified, always under your name.
Options include:
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Home Delivery – direct control, personal storage.
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Professional Vaulting – insured, secure, instantly accessible.
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Portfolio Reviews – to align your holdings with today’s risks.
Preparedness isn’t panic, it’s protection.
If a single server failure can stall the world’s biggest tech companies and freeze access to your own money, maybe the question isn’t why buy gold, but rather why not?
Link's.
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“Major AWS outage took down Fortnite, Alexa, Snapchat, and more” — The Verge: https://www.theverge.com/news/802486/aws-outage-alexa-fortnite-snapchat-offline The Verge
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“Amazon Web Services outage shows internet users 'at mercy' of too few providers” — The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/20/amazon-web-services-aws-outage-hits-dozens-websites-apps The Guardian
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“AWS ‘Returned to Normal Operations’ After Major Outage” — Newsweek: https://www.newsweek.com/amazon-web-services-down-full-list-of-sites-impacted-10904177 Newsweek
Final Thought
Outages, cyber incidents, and system failures aren’t rare anymore, they’re reminders.
Reminders that digital wealth isn’t truly in your hands, and physical gold might just be the last level of independence left.
Prices can go up as well as down, and past performance isn’t a guide to future results.
This article is for information only and should not be considered financial advice.
