ECB Releases Key Report: Gold Surpasses US Treasuries to Become Top Reserve Asset of Global Central Banks

On June 2, the European Central Bank (ECB) published its annual special report on global reserve assets, unveiling data reshaping the landscape of international reserves that has stood for nearly three decades and sending ripples across global financial markets. By the end of 2025, gold accounted for 27 percent of the official reserve portfolios held by central banks worldwide, while US Treasury securities slipped to 22 percent. Gold has overtaken US Treasuries as the largest standalone reserve asset held by global central banks, marking a historic turning point in the allocation of global foreign exchange reserves and translating the de-dollarization trend into tangible numerical results on the reserve front.

Year-on-year statistics reveal gold’s reserve share stood at merely 20 percent at end-2024, jumping seven percentage points within a single year. By contrast, US Treasuries retreated from 25 percent in 2024, shedding three percentage points and ceding the top spot it had occupied for roughly 30 years. The report also noted euro-denominated sovereign bonds maintained a steady 15 percent share in global reserves with muted fluctuations. Assets denominated in US dollars still make up 42 percent of aggregate global reserves, keeping the US dollar the world’s dominant reserve currency. Even so, US Treasuries, the core anchor underpinning the dollar system, have lost primacy among reserve assets, serving as a landmark indicator of the ongoing multipolarization of the international monetary system.

Two pivotal forces have fueled gold’s overtaking: soaring gold valuations and sustained physical gold purchases by central banks across the globe. According to special calculations from the ECB, measured at 2023 international gold prices, US Treasuries would still command a leading 26 percent share versus gold’s 16 percent. International bullion prices surged by more than 60 percent throughout 2024 and 2025, topping the historic threshold of $5,500 per troy ounce in several months and inflating the book value of existing central bank gold stockpiles, a major driver behind gold’s rising reserve proportion. Despite persistently elevated spot prices, central bank buying momentum remained robust. Global central banks registered a net gold purchase of 863 metric tons in 2025. Though down from the annual average of over 1,000 tons recorded between 2022 and 2024, the figure easily outpaced the 473-ton average annual purchase registered from 2010 to 2021. Emerging economies including Poland, Turkey, India and China led global gold accumulation, with Poland alone adding more than 100 tons of bullion to its official reserves to top the global annual buying chart. Regular installment purchases by numerous nations have consolidated the physical foundation of global official gold reserves.

Persistent geopolitical uncertainties constitute the fundamental driver prompting central banks to ramp up gold allocations. As explicitly pointed out by ECB President Christine Lagarde in the report, recurring geopolitical frictions and regional conflicts keep global asset security under strain. Free from sovereign credit risks, capable of preserving value across economic cycles and immune to arbitrary policy shifts from any single nation, gold has become a critical instrument for countries to shore up their financial security buffers. The weaponization of dollar-denominated assets starting in 2022 has erased emerging markets’ long-held perception of US Treasuries as risk-free holdings. Countries have since expedited reserve diversification by trimming US Treasury exposure and diversifying asset mixes, a prevailing strategy sweeping global reserve management over recent years. Unlike US Treasuries, whose value is vulnerable to Fed rate hike cycles, ballooning US fiscal deficits and mounting federal debt, gold hedges against monetary policy swings and sanction-induced asset losses and delivers ultimate redemption value amid extreme crises, boosting its strategic allocation appeal steadily.

Restructured reserve portfolios are reshaping pricing logic across global commodity and foreign exchange markets. Sustained official sector demand for gold has anchored its long-term fundamental outlook, breaking the traditional pricing framework where bullion prices tracked US real interest rates, with sovereign safe-haven premiums emerging as a core price driver. Softening global demand for US Treasuries weighs on long-dated Treasury valuations, prolonging the US’s sovereign debt absorption cycle and forcing the Federal Reserve to factor shifting overseas holdings into future monetary policy decisions. Meanwhile, accelerated progress in multilateral settlement among BRICS economies and regional local currency payment schemes, paired with expanding official gold reserves, has prompted many emerging markets to explore gold-backed cross-border settlement alternatives, further eroding the US dollar’s monopoly over international payments.

Leading financial institutions forecast gold’s ascent to the top reserve tier is no fleeting market shift, and the multi-year central bank gold buying spree will persist. Against a backdrop of advancing global multipolarization, lingering geopolitical hazards and widespread reserve diversification efforts worldwide, gold’s share in official reserves is poised to climb further while US Treasury’s reserve weighting drifts gradually lower. Data released by the ECB formally marks the end of an era dominated by US Treasuries in global reserve allocation and the accelerated formation of a diversified multi-asset reserve framework, set to reshape the fundamentals of international finance for decades ahead.