Gold replaces US Treasuries as world's top reserve asset, ECB says

[Celerity]

Historic bullion rally boosts metal’s share of reserves to 27% while central banks diversify away from dollar

https://www.ft.com/content/87ef8f25-eb81-4eed-919c-fe5b49a1ac2c

https://archive.ph/YvcCI

Gold has overtaken US government bonds as the world’s top reserve asset following years of relentless buying by central banks and a historic rally that has seen prices nearly double over the past two years.

Bullion accounted for 27 per cent of all global central bank reserve assets at the end of 2025, up from 20 per cent a year earlier, according to a report published on Tuesday by the European Central Bank. US Treasuries fell to 22 per cent from 25 per cent over the same period. The share of euro-denominated reserve assets was unchanged at 15 per cent.

The shifting composition of reserve assets — highly liquid holdings that central banks use to support their currencies, meet international payment obligations and provide liquidity in times of financial turmoil — reflects an attempt by many countries to seek alternatives to the US dollar, the world’s de facto reserve currency.

Those efforts have accelerated since 2022, when Washington used sanctions to freeze Russia’s dollar reserves over the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. “Geopolitical tensions continue to drive strong central bank demand for gold,” wrote ECB president Christine Lagarde in Tuesday’s report.

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[Maru Kitteh]

1. It's like a meta-fuck of the brownest and blackest people living on the planet for

GENERATIONS to come. The global oligarchy/tech bros will gain control of the supply of the physical commodity itself through buying up the mines, and they will deploy J.R. Tolkien’s orcs to bespoil the Earth yet again and leave behind pockets of survivors living in toxic waste and poisoned water.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Which reminds me . . . .

1. Has Trump been to Fort Knox, with or without Elan?

2. If he has been there, has there been a follow-up inventory of stock?

[DFW]

3. That is one argument I'll leave to the economists

The amount of gold held in Fort Knox is worth about $660 billion at today’s price. The amount of US$ in worldwide circulation is about four times that. But if you take all of M2, i.e. dollars in cash plus savings accounts, CDs, checking accounts, foreign dollar-denominated accounts, that number rises to about $22 trillion. Consider, on the other hand, that the Euro is a created currency backed by the promises of its member central banks, and not by even one gram of gold.

Gold, it could also be noted, has dropped about 20% against the US dollar since January ($5400 then vs. about $4460 today), so even that isn’t a 100% sure thing.