Dutch Central Bank Confirms It Shipped $12 Billion in Gold From New York and Ottawa to London

Since De Nederlandsche Bank disclosed on Sept. 2 that it had quietly relocated a chunk of its gold reserves out of North America, the World Gold Council and Goldman Sachs have added fresh data points to a bigger story: central banks around the world are still buying gold, and several of them no longer want it sitting in the United States.

The Dutch central bank, known as DNB, said that between March and August it moved roughly 86 metric tons of gold from a combined pool of about 313 metric tons held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Bank of Canada in Ottawa, shifting it to the Bank of England in London. The Associated Press, whose reporting ran in both Breitbart and CNN, put the value of the shipment at billions of dollars. Before the move, New York held 31.3% of the Netherlands' total gold and Ottawa held 19.7%. After it, both cities hold 18.5%.

The Netherlands owns 612.4 metric tons of gold in total, worth about €72.2 billion, or roughly $83.6 billion, at the end of 2025, according to the bank's own figures.

DNB Governor Olaf Sleijpen said in a written statement that the move improves "the tradability of our gold reserves" and that the bank needs to "strengthen our resilience and preparedness," even though it expects to "never need to use" the gold. The bank said gold held in New York and Ottawa "cannot be utilized as quickly and directly" in a crisis as gold held in London, which it called the world's most easily tradable market for the metal.

About 27 metric tons were physically flown or trucked from the U.S. and Canada to DNB's vault on a military base near Zeist, with a matching amount then moved from Zeist to London. The remaining roughly 59 metric tons never crossed an ocean at all. DNB sold that gold in New York and bought an equivalent weight in London, a paper swap that changes which country holds the metal without moving a single bar.

The Dutch aren't the first to do this. France's central bank sold 129 metric tons of gold stored in New York in 2025 and bought the same amount of higher-standard gold in Europe, according to reporting from Knewz, leaving its total reserves unchanged but its physical location different. Germany ran a similar, slower repatriation starting in 2013, moving hundreds of tons from New York and Paris back to Frankfurt, finishing the New York leg in 2016.

China Keeps Buying, But How Much Is Unclear

While European banks were rearranging where their gold sits, China's central bank kept adding to what it holds outright. The World Gold Council reported that the People's Bank of China bought 20 metric tons of gold in July, the largest purchase of any central bank that month, according to the Epoch Times. The WGC noted China has logged double-digit monthly purchases since May 2026. Poland was the second-largest buyer in July at 8 metric tons. Russia was the biggest seller, offloading 6 metric tons, followed by Turkey, Uzbekistan and Jordan at 1 metric ton each.

Year-to-date through July, central banks globally bought a net 130 metric tons, down from about 160 metric tons over the same stretch in 2025. Poland has added 90 metric tons this year and China 60 metric tons, while Turkey has sold 85 metric tons and Russia 50 metric tons, per the WGC's Sept. 3 report.

Separate reporting from Crypto Briefing and KuCoin claims China has "purchased double the amount of gold than officially disclosed." Both outlets ran identical text and neither cited a specific source, document, or analyst for that figure. It does not appear in the World Gold Council's published numbers. Readers should treat that specific claim as unverified rather than as confirmed alongside the WGC's tallied purchases.

Why Now

Goldman Sachs said in an Aug. 28 report that continued central bank buying will keep supporting gold prices, driven by reserve diversification. The bank tied the broader trend back to 2022, when the G7 froze Russian central bank assets held in Europe after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. A move Goldman says pushed other central banks to buy more gold since, as a hedge against having their own dollar or euro reserves frozen in a future dispute.

A World Gold Council survey published June 16 found 89% of central bank respondents expect their gold reserves to grow over the year, and 74% expect global dollar holdings to fall moderately or significantly over the next five years. Half said they'd fund gold purchases with domestic currency; 38% said they'd sell other reserve assets to buy it.

Spot gold closed at about $4,430 an ounce on Sept. 4, up from roughly $4,329 at the start of the year but well off a peak near $5,595 hit in late January, according to the Epoch Times.

A fair pushback on all this: paper swaps and location transfers between allied democracies aren't the same as a loss of confidence in the U.S. financial system. DNB itself said it expects to "never need to use" the relocated gold, and the physical bars mostly stayed in the hands of NATO allies. London and Zeist, not Moscow or Beijing. Treating every custody shuffle as a dollar-collapse signal overstates what a routine liquidity and logistics decision actually shows.

One dispute tied to this same gold-custody question remains unresolved. The World Gold Council's Sept. 3 report noted Venezuela has sought to withdraw roughly $4 billion in gold it holds with the Bank of England, and the UK government has refused because it doesn't recognize Venezuela's current government. Brink's Global Services told the BBC it has seen "increased demand" for cross-border gold shipments from central bank clients, according to Nader Antar, the firm's executive vice president. Whether more central banks announce similar moves before the World Gold Council's next monthly purchase report, expected in early October, is the next thing to watch.