The Global Central Bank Gold Game: Who Are the Real Large Investors?

The Fed has stored 8,133 tons of gold in its fortress-level vaults—more than 4,700 tons more than the second-ranked Germany. How exaggerated is this number? It is equivalent to the total wealth of the world's top billionaires, which cannot be exchanged.

But this is also the eye of the storm. The United States' gold reserves have long been questioned: documents lost, authenticity unverified, and purity in doubt. Experts have pointed out that if all the old gold bars in the U.S. gold reserves were melted down to make 24K pure gold bars, the total amount would shrink significantly.

Interestingly, Russia has quietly increased its gold reserves to 2,332 tons over the past decade, becoming the gold hunter among the BRICS nations. Why? Putin's ten-year plan is very clear—hedge against the dollar risk with gold. After all, when you are always opposing the United States, holding reserves in dollars is like playing with fire.

More dramatically, there are the underground vaults of the Bank of England. The gold from Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland is stored underground in London. The problem arose when Venezuela wanted to reclaim its gold in 2019, and the Bank of England simply said no. The reason given was that the Maduro regime was illegitimate. This operation is rather harsh.

The core logic is clear: Gold is the backbone of great powers. With inflation rising, geopolitical tensions escalating, and currency devaluation occurring, central banks around the world are quietly accumulating gold. In 2020, global central bank gold purchases reached a 50-year high, which is not a coincidence—everyone is preparing for a possible storm.