China's Central Bank Extends Gold-Buying Streak to 22 Months as Reserves Top 2,387 Tonnes

Since the People's Bank of China's gold-buying streak began roughly 22 months ago, the bank has gone from a marginal buyer to the sixth-largest reported official gold holder on Earth. The latest addition, 20.2 tonnes in August, is China's biggest single monthly purchase since October 2023, according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange and confirmed by World Gold Council data cited by IndexBox on September 8.

That brings the PBoC's total official reserves to about 2,387 tonnes. In July the bank held 2,366 tonnes worth roughly $306.35 billion, according to IndexBox. By the end of August that stockpile was valued at $350.08 billion, a one-month jump of about $43.7 billion.

Do the math and most of that jump isn't new buying. Twenty tonnes at roughly $4,400 an ounce is worth about $2.8 billion. The other $40 billion-plus came from gold's price rally on the existing hoard, not from Beijing shoveling more metal into the vault.

The Official Number May Not Be the Real Number

The World Gold Council's official figure for July has the PBoC buying 20 tonnes, part of a global central-bank total of 23 tonnes that month. But ZeroHedge, citing Goldman Sachs' internal estimates available to professional subscribers, reported that global central banks actually bought 44 tonnes in July, more than double the pre-2022 average of 17 tonnes, with China alone responsible for 35 tonnes acquired through undisclosed channels.

Goldman's estimate, relayed by ZeroHedge and separately picked up by Crypto Briefing, has not been confirmed by the PBoC. But if accurate, it would mean China's real gold accumulation is running close to double what Beijing tells the world. This is consistent with reporting the Financial Times has done in past years documenting Chinese gold purchases moving through channels that don't show up in the PBoC's monthly disclosures.

Treasury Holdings Hit a Record Low, But Not the Dramatic Dump Some Claimed

While China buys gold, it has been shedding U.S. debt. Treasury Department data shows China's Treasury holdings fell to $633.4 billion in June 2026, down from $659.3 billion in May, a one-month drop of about $26 billion and the lowest level since the TIC data series began in 2011, according to Coingabbar's September 13 analysis of the official figures. That's down sharply from China's 2013 peak of $1.317 trillion.

Coingabbar's reporting pushed back on a viral claim circulating online that China had executed a single $70 billion Treasury "dump," calling it the biggest sell-off since 2008. The actual monthly TIC data doesn't support that. It shows a steady, multi-year grind lower rather than one dramatic sell event. The real trend—a gradual multi-year decline in Chinese Treasury exposure alongside a rising gold position—is significant on its own without needing to be inflated into a single headline-grabbing dump.

China Isn't Alone, and That's the Fair Counterpoint

A reasonable skeptic would note this isn't purely a China story, and the data backs that up. Poland has bought 90 tonnes so far in 2026, more than China's roughly 80 tonnes over the same stretch, and is targeting 700 tonnes total, according to the World Gold Council figures relayed by both Epoch Times and IndexBox. The Czech National Bank has posted 41 straight months of net buying. Kazakhstan, Malaysia, and Bolivia also added gold in July.

A World Gold Council survey published June 16 found 89 percent of central banks expect their gold reserves to keep rising this year, and 74 percent expect lower dollar holdings across global reserves over the next five years. Goldman Sachs, in an August 28 report, tied the broader central-bank gold rush to reserve diversification following the G7's 2022 decision to freeze Russian central bank assets in Europe, a move that reportedly made reserve managers everywhere nervous about holding assets that can be frozen by a foreign government. Seen that way, this looks less like a coordinated anti-dollar campaign and more like a broad, defensive hedging trend that China happens to be leading.

Russia, notably, was the largest net seller of gold in July, offloading 6 tonnes, alongside Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Jordan each selling 1 tonne, according to the Epoch Times' review of the World Gold Council's September 3 report. Not every country is moving the same direction.

Where Gold Prices Stand

Goldman Sachs forecasts gold will hit $4,900 per troy ounce by the end of 2026, up from about $4,600 on August 25, driven largely by continued central-bank buying and fading expectations of further U.S. rate hikes. Spot gold closed around $4,430 on September 4, according to Epoch Times, and has since pulled back into the mid-$4,300s after hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation data raised questions about how long rates stay elevated, according to captainaltcoin's market tracking. Prediction markets tracked by Crypto Briefing put the odds of gold hitting $15,000 by year-end at roughly 0.4 percent, effectively a non-starter.

The World Gold Council's next monthly update, covering September purchases, is due in early October. That report will show whether the PBoC's streak extends to 23 months, and whether Beijing's official disclosures continue to diverge from the higher figures Goldman's internal tracking suggests. Neither the PBoC nor SAFE has responded publicly to the Goldman estimate cited by ZeroHedge.