Overview
- The European Central Bank reported June 2, 2026, that gold made up 27% of official global reserves at the end of 2025 while U.S. Treasuries accounted for 22%.
- Central bank gold holdings totaled about 36,000 metric tons and were valued near $4.5 trillion at end-2025, versus estimated official Treasuries near $3.5 trillion.
- The ECB said the re-ranking was driven mainly by gold's sharp price rally in 2024–2025, not by an unusually large one-off surge in purchases.
- Official gold buying has been strong, topping roughly 1,000 metric tons in each of the past three years with large buyers including Poland, Kazakhstan, Brazil, China and Turkey, and the ECB flagged crypto-linked firm Tether as a major private buyer in 2025.
- The ECB warned that gold is not a one-to-one substitute for sovereign debt because it pays no interest, can be volatile, costs to store, and has limited supply, implications that reserve managers must weigh for liquidity and policy use.