Central banks buying gold
Social-market commentary highlighted that some central banks have shifted reserves toward gold and away from U.S. Treasuries, with China reportedly cutting holdings from about $1.3 trillion to $650 billion and others buying gold after the Russia-related freeze in dollar assets. The posts flagged that this dynamic is part of a broader conversation about the 'safe' status of short-term Treasuries. (x.com)
Central banks have spent three straight years buying more than 1,000 metric tons of gold a year, while some big reserve holders have reduced their United States Treasury exposure. (gold.org) The World Gold Council said central banks added 1,045 tons of gold in 2024, after similarly outsized buying in 2022 and 2023. Its 2025 survey found 95% of respondents expect global central bank gold reserves to keep rising over the next 12 months. (gold.org 1) (gold.org 2) China’s Treasury holdings have fallen far from their 2011 peak of about $1.32 trillion. By December 2024, Congress’s research service put China at about $0.8 trillion, and more recent market compilations based on Treasury data showed about $694.4 billion in January 2026. (congress.gov) (tradingeconomics.com) Gold is a reserve asset that sits outside any single government’s promise to pay. The European Central Bank said gold became the world’s second-largest global reserve asset at market prices in 2024, behind only the United States dollar. (ecb.europa.eu) The European Central Bank said central-bank demand for gold surged after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and stayed high through 2024. A Congressional Research Service report said about $300 billion of Russia’s central-bank reserves were frozen in February 2022, while reserves held in China and gold stored in central-bank vaults were not frozen. (ecb.europa.eu) (congress.gov) Reserve managers still hold far more dollars than gold, and Treasuries still do a job gold cannot: they pay interest and provide deep, liquid markets for cash management. Congress’s research service said foreigners held about $8.5 trillion of United States federal debt in December 2024, with 44.2% of that held by official government investors. (congress.gov) The World Gold Council’s 2025 survey found the most common reasons central banks gave for owning gold were crisis performance, store-of-value protection, and diversification. The same survey found 73% of respondents expected lower United States dollar shares in global reserves over the next five years. (gold.org) That leaves reserve managers balancing two kinds of safety at once: Treasuries for liquidity and income, gold for insulation from sanctions, inflation, and geopolitical shocks. (ecb.europa.eu) (gold.org)
