The Dutch Central Bank announced on the 2nd that it would transfer approximately 86 tons of gold reserves from New York, the United States, and Ottawa, Canada, to London, the United Kingdom, from March to August this year to diversify risks and prepare for crisis response.
A press release from the Dutch Central Bank stated that approximately 59 tons of gold were transferred by selling in the New York market and then purchasing it from the London market. More than 27 tons of gold were transported in physical form from the United States and Canada to Zeist, the Netherlands, and a similar amount of gold that complied with international market standards was transferred from Zeist to London.
Data from the Dutch Central Bank shows that as of the end of 2025, the Netherlands has 612.4 tons of gold reserves, mainly stored in Zeist, the Netherlands, London, the United Kingdom, New York, the United States, and Ottawa, Canada.
After this adjustment, the proportion of Dutch gold reserves stored in Zeist remained unchanged at 30.8%, the proportion stored in New York dropped significantly from 31.3% to 18.5%, the proportion stored in Ottawa dropped from 19.7% to 18.5%, and the proportion stored in London increased from 18.1% to 32.1%.
The Dutch central bank said that the gold stored at the Bank of England is highly liquid and facilitates rapid gold transactions in the Netherlands in emergencies.
Since Trump became president of the United States again, the Dutch central bank has expressed concern about the increasingly tense relations between Europe and the United States. It has said that the United States can easily block payment transactions in the Netherlands, and has therefore repeatedly called for reducing its dependence on the United States.
In April this year, the Bank of France announced that it had completed the replacement of 129 tons of gold stored in New York for many years. The gold has been held in custody in New York since the late 1920s. The operation will be carried out in 26 phases and will be completed between July 2025 and January 2026. The Bank of France sold these gold bars in New York at market prices, purchased an equal amount of gold from Europe that met current standards, and shipped them back to Paris. So far, France's total gold reserves of 2,437 tons have been concentrated in the mainland.
Germany shipped back 300 tons of gold from the United States between 2013 and 2017. The Bundesbank still stores 1,236 tons of gold in New York, accounting for about 37% of its total reserves. However, in recent years, the Bundesbank has faced significant increase in political pressure to ship more gold bars back to Germany.
What is the impact of many countries shipping gold back from the United States?
Why do the Netherlands, France and other European countries want to ship gold back from the United States? What impact will it have on global financial markets and the US dollar system?
Many countries adjust their gold reserve layout to reflect U.S. credit risk
Wan Zhe, professor at Beijing Normal University and economics expert: First of all, this is a risk of geopolitical and asset sovereignty, and it is also a warning brought by financial weaponization. As the United States continues to use its so-called "long-arm sanctions" and other measures, the Dutch central bank has publicly mentioned concerns that the United States can easily block cross-border payment transactions.
Wan Zhe, professor at Beijing Normal University and economics expert: Secondly, the expansion of U.S. debt has put the long-term credit of the U.S. dollar into question. As a risky asset without sovereign credit, gold is expected to be withdrawn from U.S. vaults and distributed in custody to hedge against risks such as the depreciation of U.S. debt and the decline in the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar.
Wan Zhe, professor at Beijing Normal University and economics expert: In addition, this is a realistic consideration of liquidity in a crisis scenario. The Dutch Central Bank's special explanation is that gold stored in various places will face institutional obstacles in delivery and cross-border transshipment in times of crisis. The Netherlands' optimization of custody locations is to diversify reserve storage and reduce the risk of a single custody location.
France once ran on gold, accelerating the collapse of the Bretton Woods system
Wan Zhe, professor at Beijing Normal University and economics expert: The landmark event was the gold run by the Charles de Gaulle government in France in the 1960s, which directly accelerated the disintegration of the Bretton Woods system. In the 1960s, France continued to convert its U.S. dollar foreign exchange to the New York Fed into physical gold, which was shipped back to France in large quantities via warships and aircraft. This action created a demonstration effect. European countries such as West Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands also followed up the large-scale loss of gold reserves in the United States, and major cracks appeared in the entire system.
Wan Zhe, professor at Beijing Normal University and economics expert: So, in the 1970s, then-President Nixon of the United States announced that he would close the gold exchange window and stop converting U.S. dollars into gold. The Bretton Woods system subsequently collapsed, the world entered the era of the credit dollar, and floating exchange rates entered the stage of history.
Crisis of confidence in the U.S. dollar system accelerates diversification of global reserves
Wan Zhe, professor at Beijing Normal University and economics expert: This behavior will not subvert the U.S. dollar in the short term. But this does represent a profound change in the logic of global reserves, which is a shift from focusing on liquidity to taking into account the sovereign security of assets.
Wan Zhe, professor at Beijing Normal University and economics expert: After the United States arbitrarily used financial sanctions as a weapon and froze some foreign exchange reserves, central banks around the world are reassessing custody risks.
Wan Zhe, professor at Beijing Normal University and economics expert: In the long run, cracks in trust in the U.S. dollar system will accelerate the diversification of global reserves. The return of gold is also one of the signals of global de-dollarization, and it also means that economies, including U.S. allies, are taking the initiative to reduce their reliance on the single dollar system.
(CCTV News Client)
