Gold overtakes U.S. Treasuries
According to a European Central Bank report released on June 2, gold now accounts for 27% of official reserve assets held by central banks, up seven percentage points from a year earlier. U.S. Treasuries fell three points to 22%.
It is the first time since the mid-1990s that gold has been the larger of the two. For most of the modern financial era, U.S. government bonds dominated reserves because of their liquidity, safety, and central role in the dollar-based system.
The ECB said the move was not driven by central-bank buying alone. Gold prices surged roughly 60% during 2025, sharply lifting the value of reserves countries already held. But the report said it also reflects years of steady accumulation and a deliberate push to diversify beyond dollar assets, an effort that accelerated after Washington froze Russia's dollar reserves following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.