Central Bank Gold Purchases Surge 5-Fold Since 2022, Outpacing U.S. Treasury Holdings
If you thought gold was just a shiny metal, think again. In the past year, central banks around the world have bought roughly five times as much physical gold as they did in 2022, pushing their total gold holdings past the value of the U.S. Treasury securities they still own.
Gold’s price has slid more than 25 % from the January‑2026 peak of $5,600 an ounce, a move that has sparked debate about whether the metal has reached its all‑time high. The decline in value has come hand‑in‑hand with a surge in central‑bank buying, a trend that began in 2014 and accelerated sharply after 2022.
The shift began when many central banks started moving away from U.S. Treasury securities and turning to physical gold as a reserve asset. That pivot grew even stronger after 2022, when the article reports that central‑bank purchases jumped fivefold. Today, central banks collectively hold more physical gold than they do U.S. Treasury securities.
Key players in this transition include the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the BRICS+ coalition. The BIS has enforced Basel III rules that require banks to hold a larger share of allocated, physical gold. Meanwhile, BRICS+ nations have been steadily adding gold to their reserves since 2014. China, in particular, has imported roughly 14,000 tons of gold since 2015 and trimmed its U.S. Treasury holdings from over $1.3 trillion to about half that amount.
The gold market itself has been shifting from paper to physical. In 2021, the London market had about $640 billion in paper‑gold claims against just $70 billion in actual gold. The article describes this disparity as a “legalised Ponzi scheme” that banks used to keep gold prices artificially low. After Basel III forced banks to acquire more physical gold, the physical market grew and began to outpace the paper market.
The change is visible on the trading floors of London and New York, where exchanges have reported running out of metals as demand for delivery of real gold has surged. The physical market is now dominating the paper market, a reversal that underscores the growing preference for tangible assets.
Even as gold prices have fallen, central‑bank buying has not slowed. The driving force behind the purchases is a growing concern about the long‑term stability of paper currencies and the U.S. dollar. Central banks view gold as a “real and honest money” that can hedge against currency debasement and protect the integrity of their reserves.
In short, central banks have dramatically increased their gold holdings since 2022, surpassing the total value of U.S. Treasury securities they still hold. The market is moving away from paper‑gold claims toward physical gold, a shift that has been fueled by regulatory changes at the BIS and the steady accumulation by BRICS+ nations. This trend reflects a broader reassessment of gold’s role in global finance, suggesting that the metal’s place as a cornerstone of international reserves is more secure than ever before.
