Gold officially beats the U.S. dollar as the top global reserve asset

Gold has just overtaken the U.S. dollar as the biggest reserve asset held by central banks around the world. Data from the World Gold Council and IMF tracking shows that total gold reserves are now worth more than U.S. Treasury holdings for the first time in decades.

Central banks now hold over $4 trillion in gold, surpassing the roughly $3.9 trillion they hold in U.S. government debt.

Two main forces made this happen:
• Gold prices have jumped hard, recently topping $5,100 per ounce, up around 70 percent since late 2024.
• Big buying from central banks, especially from countries like Poland, China, India, and Turkey, which have been adding more than 1,000 tonnes of gold a year for three straight years.

This shift is happening because many countries are losing faith in the dollar’s stability as the world’s safe asset. Rising U.S. debt, political gridlock, sanctions, and trade tensions have pushed nations to look for a neutral store of value with no counterparty risk. Gold fits that role.

Even though the dollar still dominates global trade and accounts for most reserves, gold is now seen more as insurance against currency risk and geopolitical instability.

Here are the top five official gold holders in 2026:
• United States ~8,133 tonnes (about $1.44 trillion)
• Germany ~3,350 tonnes (about $592 billion)
• Italy ~2,451 tonnes (about $434 billion)
• France ~2,437 tonnes (about $431 billion)
• Russia ~2,326 tonnes (about $411 billion)

What this means is simple: the world is slowly moving toward a more multipolar system where the dollar is no longer the only safe place to park value. If gold keeps rising toward $6,000 per ounce, that trend could speed up.

#Gold