Discussion Paper
Why Gold Didn't Actually Overtake Treasury Securities as the World's "Favorite" Reserve Asset
Abstract: In 2025, world international reserves held in gold surpassed foreign official holdings of U.S. Treasury securities (figure 1), a fact drawing attention from media and policymakers (Nangle, 2025; European Central Bank, 2026; Storbeck and Hook, 2026, for example). Should this be interpreted as gold overtaking U.S. Treasury securities in its appeal as a reserve asset? I argue that the answer is no, as a comparison of world gold reserves and aggregate foreign official holdings of U.S. Treasury securities is problematic for a couple reasons.
https://doi.org/10.17016/2380-7172.4147
Access Documents
File(s):
File format is text/html
https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/why-gold-didnt-actually-overtake-treasury-securities-as-the-worlds-favorite-reserve-asset-20260903.html
Description: Full text
Authors
Bibliographic Information
Provider: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.)
Part of Series: FEDS Notes
Publication Date: 2026-09-03
Number: 2026-09-03-2