Gold Surpasses Treasuries as Global Reserve Asset

The Federal Reserve recently published a research note attempting to downplay a significant milestone: in 2025, global official gold reserves surpassed US Treasuries in value. This marks a definitive shift in strategy among global central banks.

Gold's rise is not just due to price appreciation, but also from increased purchases by central banks. According to the World Gold Council's '2026 Central Bank Gold Reserves Survey', global central banks have been buying about 1,000 tons of gold annually over the past four years - a pace twice the average of the prior decade.

The survey shows that 45% of central banks expect to increase their gold reserves in the next 12 months, and 89% believe that global central bank gold holdings will continue to rise. Looking further ahead, 84% of respondents expect gold's share in global reserves to increase further in five years.

The Fed's justifications for downplaying this milestone are weak, as they cannot deny the deeper logic behind this trend: gold is no longer just a safe haven, but an indispensable key monetary asset within global financial markets. The crossover of numbers may be attributed to price factors, but central banks' actual moves prove that they are endorsing gold's strategic status with continued purchases.