Why are European banks moving gold out of United States?

898 points by marketrent 9 hours ago on reddit | 182 comments

cyberdude419 | 9 hours ago

Yeah geez…for the life of me I can’t figure out why Europe is not happy with the United States government…anyone else know why our country is suddenly despised and a total fucking joke?!

PeregrineThe | 9 hours ago

couldn't be the genuine threat to sovereignty could it?

Tupcek | 8 hours ago

nah, everyone knows Trump has the best interest of Europe in mind when negotiating!

Pristine-Librarian43 | 5 hours ago

Trump è solo un idiota, ma noi europei sappiamo come ripagarlo

hoppertn | 9 hours ago

Possession is 9/10ths of the law, come and try to take your gold back EuroBums! AMERICA, F Yeah!!! /s

stunned_parrot | 6 hours ago

Take it. I double dare you. Just give me 5 min to short USD.

nomad2284 | 2 hours ago

Or is that snort LSD?

Reagalan | 2 hours ago

you don't snort LSD, you put it under your tongue.

nomad2284 | an hour ago

Learn something new everyday.

Herrben | 8 hours ago

It was our gold all along.

Gonna_B_Alright | 6 hours ago

Capitalism is suddenly communist.

sibilischtic | 5 hours ago

Dude would try renaming it to Gold of America

curtisee | 5 hours ago

😂

shrekerecker97 | an hour ago

Gold member

spudddly | 5 hours ago

Ask Venezuela.

OK_x86 | 7 hours ago

The President of the United States threatened to send the military to force the bond market to buy US treasuries.

It's not just a question of being unhappy with him. The man is absolutely off his rocker. Him taking everyone's gold is not a stretch at this point.

Gloomy-Recipe9213 | an hour ago

Not even the US taking it - literally, Trump just stealing all of Europe's gold and trucking it to Mar-a-Lago with a military escort.

The fact that that's even plausible is a sign of how far America has gone. Trump has put America's reliability and trustworthiness down around the Congo or Eritrea.

Awkward-Painter-2024 | 9 hours ago

I'm shocked Trump allowed it to happen.

NewEntrepreneur357 | 8 hours ago

not allowing it to happen is way worse

Awkward-Painter-2024 | 8 hours ago

Sure. But this place excels at "way worse." Shit, they stole Venezuelan gold like old school Spanish conquistadors and shit!!!

Bobcat-Stock | 5 hours ago

The conquistadors didn’t have access to a “discombobulator”

OldIronandWood | 4 hours ago

Send the sales video to the WH.

Momoselfie | 7 hours ago

Probably thinks it's good because he thinks it's an export and decreases our trade deficit.

DjScenester | 9 hours ago

Definitely not orange Jesus, he’s infallible

sparty212 | 7 hours ago

I bet it’s because of Obama.

Modokon | 6 hours ago

Why would Biden do this?

B00marangTrotter | 6 hours ago

Why would Biden shit in Trump's pants?!? The guy is everywhere!

Decent-Box5009 | 8 hours ago

Canada here. Super weird. Your president is super Awsome and the best ever just ask him.

Interesting-Dream863 | 7 hours ago

Not to mention that some wonder if the gold is there at all

RockyCliffPebbles | 9 hours ago

Definitely not because this whole things about to collapse.

FortheredditLOLz | 5 hours ago

Well fuck me. I didn’t know a pedophile money grubbing public self shitting nazi idiot could harm the United state image…..

rickolati | 6 hours ago

Move it all!

wonderlawl | 5 hours ago

Theyd try to take Greenland but theyd never try to take Goldland

whittlingcanbefatal | 2 hours ago

Probably not related, but the felon-in-chief has said he wants some of the gold for himself.

Ok_Eagle_3079 | 8 hours ago

Pretty sure it the major of New York.

Pristine-Librarian43 | 5 hours ago

Perché avete eletto un somaro

Hevysett | 2 hours ago

Not happy? That's not it at all, they've not done this on other occasions where they weren't happy. The international community has concerns that the US government will attempt utilizing the gold as a hostage in trade talks or other bargaining

BlueBerry_Cream_Pie | 6 hours ago

I'm going to be contrarian here,

Cause we don't give them free money?

Isn't that what we did for NATO before?

I'll always point to Ukraine as Europe's fate at this point.

Mewhomewhy | 58 minutes ago

You can point to what you want but you destroyed your own country.

Electrical_Review_81 | 9 hours ago

Simplistic and wrong- they started moving gold back in 2012

BadahBingBadahBoom | 9 hours ago

'Started' being the key word there. This story, that has been widely reported by similar news organisations, is about the scale of how much more has been moved since Nov 2024.

Almost as if something that's been happening since Nov 2024 has given foreign governments reason to be concerned over the "increasing geopolitical unrest" in North America right now...

Or as OP more brutally, but honestly, put it:

>... why our country is suddenly despised and a total fucking joke?!

They weren't actually wrong. You just don't like their and various foreign governments' perception of the geopolitical situation in the US is right now.

That's the funny thing about a provider's opinions of the attractiveness of their service - it doesn't mean jack shit if it differs from the actual consumers who decide whether to take up said service.

Electrical_Review_81 | 3 hours ago

Did you consider that it's not a Trump thing or even Obama or Biden but an American people thing? Our voters are increasingly hostile to normal moderate politics. The DSA is taking over the dem party which is terrifying, and the far right is also crazy, so who is in charge really doesn't matter. Think of this, if the DSA won in 28 who would trust the US with their wealth?

BadahBingBadahBoom | 3 hours ago

Lol if you think these countries are withdrawing their gold because of the DSA's policies not the current US right-wing's venture into nationalistic authoritarianism (that would actually threaten these gold reserves) you really have gone down the neoMcCarthyism rabbit hole.

The DSA is not going to get a majority in Congress. MAGA currently is.

Ofc it doesn't matter what you think. It's not your gold and it was not your decision to move. So I guess your heavily misinformed take is rather irrelevant tbf.

Noloxy | 9 hours ago

YOU are being simplistic to an extent which is wrong. Jfc

Rattus_NorvegicUwUs | 9 hours ago

“I’m going to take Greenland!”

“I’m going to take all the oil!”

“I’m going to destroy trade for no reason!”

“Canada is actually the enemy!”

“Wow why are the Europeans acting so skittish?”

America elected a dementia patient and the GOP refuses to act as a coequal branch as long as they get rich from corrupt side deals. America willingly killed all its credibility and expertise to own the libs.

Kill_4209 | 9 hours ago

Yeah when someone threatens to take your land by force, it no longer seems like such a great idea to have him hold on to your gold.

onecooltaco | 9 hours ago

Well said

Expensive_Ocelot_285 | 7 hours ago

Because we don’t trust your president.

Captain_troublepants | 5 hours ago

But but but they got them! Got the libs so hard. Totally worth it.

diovanedvx | 9 hours ago

Because at some point Trump is going to wake up and decide that the US… sorry, that Donald Trump, is owed this gold for doing so much for Europe.

On your first read that probably sounds quite stupid and far fetched. But dear reader, I urge you to pause, think about your top 5 crazy things that Donald has done, and then read the comment above again. Still sounds so crazy?! Anyway…

Thank you for your attention on this matter!
- Redditor Diovanedvx

Virtual-Reach | 8 hours ago

That's actually plausible.

"We're keeping the gold because, you know, Europe never paid us for America winning WW2, they never did, it's true. And when we asked for their help with Iran, they never came. Europe is just a horrible place with horrible people, so if they want it back, they'll get tariffed."

bavarian-ke | 8 hours ago

He also needs it urgently for the decoration of his ballroom. Cant use there the cheap chinese plastic moulds from Home Depot he had applied in the oval office.

It’s beyond plausible, it’s likely. US is in so much debt and it’s fucked either way now. Raise rates to stave off inflation -> can’t afford to repay debt. Lower rates -> inflation takes off

Bobcat-Stock | 5 hours ago

You’re not counting the $20Trillion in foreign investment plus all the new growth from the illegal tariffs. Why would we need their gold? ….big /S

342heathbar | an hour ago

If Putin tells him this at 7:00, practice guarantee to go on a tweeting spree about it. “Hey, you know Europe never paid you back for WWII. You should just keep all their gold until they agree to pay you back with it.”

Gloomy-Recipe9213 | an hour ago

Bold of you to think the United States would keep it. Trump would have the army haul it to Mar-a-Lago.

Virtual-Reach | 57 minutes ago

He'd put it in a special fund called "Gold for America" or some stupid shit, then appoint one of his sons as the director for the funds, then those funds will never see the light of day and purely coincidentally the trump family fortune will grow.

Picks6x | 8 hours ago

Id be shocked if Trump gives any of that gold back

CliftonForce | 8 hours ago

I am expecting him to decide that the entire US is his personal property. Therefore, he can take any money he wants from anyone and spend it in a whim.

JonesyAndReilly | 8 hours ago

If that’s all you’ve got for today, I’m going to go away now.

If you weren’t intentionally writing like TCD it’s a damn good coincidence.

Ch33syP00f | 8 hours ago

Because the US has proven itself untrustworthy.

We have compelled allies and trade partners to seek alternative solutions.

It is unlikely that this process will reverse itself no matter how many apologies or gratuitous acts of kindness.

“Path Dependence”

Acceptable_Wolf2259 | 8 hours ago

Because trump and the republicans are evil fascists who can’t be trusted and are throwing the whole global economy into a recession for one man’s ego and. For Israel’s Zionists wars. At least Vietnam’s and Korea were proxies in the Cold War. This war is truly pointless. Oh, and because there’s no guarantee trump will peacefully hand over the government to a democrat president/congress in two years. The world shouldn’t have to depends on a fascists dictatorship in the USA to have peace . tooontles

shwarma_heaven | 8 hours ago

Because they don't trust us not to seize it.

Trump is famously unwilling to keep promises, abide by deals, or hold to contracts... He will do whatever helps him in that moment - including seizing allied gold for whatever insult or injury he wants to claim.

NastyStreetRat | 9 hours ago

Given the erratic shifts and inconsistencies of this U.S. government, just imagine if they suddenly said, "We want 10% of your gold in exchange for keeping it here safely, and if you don't hand it over within a week, we're keeping the whole lot." Could that happen or not?

Gloomy-Recipe9213 | an hour ago

"I have changed the deal, pray I do not change it further" is American global policy now.

Open_Pollution_8038 | 9 hours ago

It’s not like the gold serves any purpose in a vault in the U.S.

Legacy from WWII when all those countries got steamrolled by their neighbors and flew their gold to America for safekeeping.

bavarian-ke | 8 hours ago

Not entirely from WWII. In 1944 the Bretton Woods accord forced currencies to be backed by gold. Therefore after WWII governments bought gold in a certain relation to the money in circulation until 1971 (USA) or 1973 (Europe). Most governments kept their gold distributed for strategic reasons (Russia could attack) as well as for guaranteeing the currency stability or to facilitate account clearing between central banks.

Open_Pollution_8038 | 8 hours ago

Going behind that, I dislike gold on just the basis it’s a shitty form of currency.

There’s not enough of it to make it useful to all the humans in the world and it’s just a hunk of shiny rock at the end of the day.

bavarian-ke | 8 hours ago

No controversy on that. Would lead to deflation and thus destroy the economy. Crypto is even worse.

[OP] marketrent | 9 hours ago

Excerpts from article by Arthur Sullivan:

[...] The decision by the Dutch central bank recently to move about 86 tonnes (95 US tons) of gold from New York to London highlighted growing concerns among some governments over storing strategic assets in the US and whether they could be readily accessed in a crisis.

The De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) cited "geopolitical unrest" and said moving its gold across different jurisdictions would improve its "crisis preparedness."

France also removed its remaining gold exposure from the New York Federal Reserve between July 2025 and January 2026, although Bank of France Governor François Villeroy de Galhau said at the time that it was not politically motivated.

Several politicians in Germany and Italy — which hold the world's second- and third-largest gold reserves, respectively — have called for their countries' gold to be also taken out of the US amid concerns about the Trump administration's unpredictable policymaking and its growing antipathy toward the European Union, including threats to annex part of Greenland.

Sebastien Tillett, an analyst with Oxford Economics, told DW the outright seizure of assets is an "extremely remote risk" for European central banks. However, he said, there are growing concerns about ease of access in an age of geopolitical uncertainty.

 

[...] "The idea is that in the event of a crisis, in stress periods, that gold can be potentially mobilized," [Krishnan Gopaul] said. "London is pretty much the heart of the gold market, and there is so much activity there, and it's such a liquid market, that in a time of crisis that is where you want your gold."

The Bank of England is a major global gold holder and custodian. There are estimated to be around 400,000 gold bars in its possession, worth around $270 billion (€232 billion).

While moving gold to a location such as London has an attraction of its own for European entities, it is clear that doubts over US reliability in the Trump era and over the US financial system as a whole is driving decision-making.

Last week, the manager of Norway's massive $2.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund said the fund needs to significantly cut its exposure to US treasuries.

That decision seems to be driven by concern about US government bond markets, with soaring inflation and government debt driving up borrowing costs and spooking investors.

Tillett said gold remained sensitive to decisions by the US Federal Reserve and general concern about US financial markets meant that gold holders are looking to move their assets.

fidjudisomada | 8 hours ago

It's about time people started questioning American exceptionalism and their shenanigans. This is a exactly what I was hoping to happen under Trump's Administration.

UnenthusiasticLover | 9 hours ago

Because our citizens have proven by our voting history that we are uneducated and untrustworthy...

Seems like quite simple logic to me.

12345

NoPerformance5952 | 8 hours ago

Pretty sure folks clocked how irrational and chaotic Trump is on top of him stacking the national debt. Combined with his AI fever dream lebensraum posts, European leaders can see Trump seizing foreign gold depisits for some trumped up reason (pun fully intended)

Gizmo_the_wonder_pig | 8 hours ago

Every endeavor humans undertake is built on layers of trust. The more trust exists, the more complex and long term things can be undertaken. Even between governments. When all trust breaks down, the base layer for value between humans and nations for thousands of years has been gold.

When you don't trust a country to hold your share of that commodity because you think some orange faced moron will decide one morning that the gold he has physical control over that belongs to your nation is for some perceived slight now 'owed to him' you are screwed.

The only way to protect your nation's wealth in that case is to hold it physically within your own borders.

It is just another signal that trust in the US government to act in accordance with law and in good faith is diminishing at a national level.

Kalorama_Master | 8 hours ago

For the same reason the bond market is not moving the way Bessent wants when he intervenes.

Credibility

Would you trust Trump with your family jewels?

Now … yada yada word limit yada yada

Dingleton-Berryman | 7 hours ago

As an American, if I start acting like an unreasonable trading partner, why should I be treated as anything but an unreasonable trading partner.

wildsectortv | 3 hours ago

The U.S. has made a strategic pivot towards dismantling the E.U. because it has become a pain in the ass for tech oligarchs who have now completely captured the levers of government in Washington. Europe sees the writing on wall and is moving out any assets that the U.S. could potentialy freeze or confiscate before things invetibly escalate.

Public_Category_4759 | 8 hours ago

It's very simple, because we EU don't trust the people of South Canada anymore. We have seen what they are voting for. And they will vote crazy again.

kitesurfr | 3 hours ago

The empire has fallen.

Then I must put more info here, but essentially that first sentence sums up everything encompassing the various answers to your question.

bkinboulder | 2 hours ago

Because America has lost a ton of credibility over the last couple of years with incompetent, inconsistent, petulant leadership in both government and our Fed.

Kurichan77 | 8 hours ago

1: Because the US will steal that gold for noncompliance

2: Because holding US securities, given the extremely high level of precarity of the US economy, is extremely risky and it doesn’t take a fancy pants economics degree to see that

_WillCAD_ | 7 hours ago

So the gold doesn't end up at the bottom of some lake somewhere after the upcoming WW3. Maybe Lake America or the Gulf of America or the America River or America's Bay.

cwdawg15 | 7 hours ago

Because the US is showing signs of becoming less stable, too much rhetoric against democratic principles, trade wars, and ballooning deficits as we keep giving tax cuts and loopholes to the rich.

The latter which could lead to a future currency destabilization that could lead to runaway inflation that could cause a corrupt administration to want to prop it up with gold and other stable-value resources.

And honestly most people in this world just do not trust Trump and clearly see him for what he is, except for a group of people that are lost do to a perceived fear of loss/dilution of their own culture.

sovlex | 6 hours ago

There are many reasons why, some of them were pointed out here already, but money, as Mr. White correctly stated once is not as valuable as knowing whom to trust.

LeatherBandicoot | 5 hours ago

Because the whole world, and America First chief among them, is done with the Bretton Woods legacy. Foreign-held assets are vulnerable to political disputes, legal freezes, or sanctions. As global geopolitical tensions rise and trade frictions increase, central banks globally are prioritizing domestic control over physical assets to guard against sovereign vulnerability. Among other things!

oldbutfeisty | 7 hours ago

Well, the leader is a liar, a known cheater, has a reputation for not paying his bills and has been looting bitcoin and the stock market. The real question is why is there any remaining?

OnlyHalfBrilliant | 9 hours ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/law/s/4K1SIGMn3Y

This post may give at least some insight as to why. And this is just some minor functionary, not the grifter-in-chief.

This administration is equal parts heist and coup, and any nation is wise to secure their physical assets under these circumstances.

McGrathsDomestos | 7 hours ago

I think this is more to do with the Pentagon’s ongoing inability to account for all its assets. I mean financial ones, here at least.

ShaiHuludNM | 8 hours ago

Just curious why the Netherlands would choose to store their gold in a London bank and not somewhere in their own country. Does gold generate interest?

Stoyfan | 8 hours ago

The gold reserves is usually used in times of financial crisis so it can be quite beneficial for countries to store their gold in places where the commodity is traded quite frequently.

London is a big financial hub and does a lot of gold trading.

Svardskampe | 4 hours ago

Trade is usually not done physically, but sold and bought while the physical location stays the same. It's more of an exchange with a vault attached to it. A problem also of Fort Knox is that it does not allow for auditing, which may also be believed that there is less actual gold than is being traded over.

London is just a big trading hub for said gold to do so.

Still 1/3rd of the total amount is saved within the country at the responsible bank in Zeist.

jorgepolak | 7 hours ago

Because we demonstrated that we’re not a country of laws. If Trump decides to take the gold a build a giant statue of himself, the Supreme Court would let him.

Not hard to understand why it’s being moved, but at the end of the day having all this gold in an under armed Europe, which also has a war on its western front is an interesting turn of events.

Electrical_Review_81 | 9 hours ago

Europe originally moved gold to America because Europe wasn’t safe. Beginning around 2012–13, European governments increasingly decided that keeping more of their national reserves under their own physical control made sense.

evanwilliams212 | 6 hours ago

The biggest threat for Europe since at least WW2 was Russia. It only made sense to move some of your wealth to a trusted partner somewhere else.

Fast forward to today … Trump won’t shut up with the constant threats about taking Greenland. Putin can’t even defeat Ukraine.

Trump has spent 10 years treating our allies like shit and kissing the asses of our enemies. He keeps telling everyone Europe is ripping the US off. He’s a bully and a thief.

The biggest threat changed.

NoFixedUsername | 8 hours ago

I wonder what bullet point on the pro/con worksheet tipped the decision to move the gold out of the US into the “made sense” range? Was it maybe a scrappy, upstart presidential candidate stirring the pot of right wing hate stew?

Electrical_Review_81 | 3 hours ago

They have been doing it since 2012- why did they start the ? Are they racist?

Calm_Chemist_4952 | 8 hours ago

It’s only a matter of time before the absolute worst president of all time claims and seizes foreign gold as payment due for some make-believe debt owed to the US in all its “greatness.”

DamnYouSexyFlanders | 6 hours ago

Keeping your gold reserve in a vault owned by the mad emperor? It's just one synaptic misfire away from being seized because of narcissistic dementia reasons. Could that be it?

Bizhammer | 6 hours ago

Because this is literally a question that doesnt need to be asked.. we all know why. Doesnt take an economist to tell you that america and its administration has lost all credibility, no promise can be trusted to be held. Of course countries are not going to hold on to a gold standard while the stockpile is being held at gunpoint...

neozeio | 2 hours ago

Trump has shown agreements mean nothing... so is it any surprise that nations depositing their gold reserves might look to more reliable places to store their national wealth? The U.S is unstable as it's dictator is emotional and irrational.

Due-Freedom-5968 | 5 hours ago

Because America has proven itself to be completely untrustworthy, morally bankrupt, and can no longer be considered an ally, nor a safe haven for gold.

At this point we're borderline expecting the USA to default on it's debts too, which is why treasuries are selling off.

In short, we don't trust y'all no more. /thread.

Mister_K74 | 8 hours ago

There is no reason anymore to leave the gold overseas. It should come back home. The EU and US relationship is not anymore what it used to be. We will take "gladly" the blame ... but also our gold.

TroubleStandard56 | 6 hours ago

Probably moving the gold before selling their US Govt bonds off. The world knows that the USA are not to be trusted & wont be for a long time if any.

Jealous_Bowler3093 | 5 hours ago

Because Trump is liable to just say "this gold is ours" and rattle off whatever hair brained reason occurs to him in the moment.

Considering how many American institutions have caved to Trump there's very little security for those assets so best to remove them.

jcooli09 | 5 hours ago

Trump.

And they're right, too.  We elected him twice, and that is very strong evidence that we've peaked as a nation.

I'm not sure exactly how many character I need to type or have many I've used so far.  Maybe this post will be removed.

JacobMoya | 9 hours ago

The dollar is going to fall and Bitcoin will shoot up and I will be sad that I did not buy more. Maybe this is the result of Trump promising cash payments to Americans.

mmoore327 | 9 hours ago

I definitely think Americans should put all their money in bitcoin

Severe_Rise8694 | 9 hours ago

One of the angles I heard was that there's a chance the toddler in charge could use them as leverage against European countries. Or you know, just take it to build more golden toilet seats or whatever.

flyswithdragons | 9 hours ago

Because we are in a coup, our parties are dog shit corrupt stealing from the USA citizen, they are just letting us get robbed by the Trump regime and Trump loves gold. That is my guess. Even the Europeans think the Dems will do nothing to clawback the stolen funds because they reps like the Russian oligarchy just steals public funds.

Worthless pos will find consequences by lawful means or worse ways but they earned that imo. I won't feel sorry for a single one that capitulated to theft since Bush, those that are dead, are in hell for the evil, but what did people expect from people who allow genocide of American indians, and oppress black and brown people in their own country.

The Epstein class should be held accountable and that is why we are fighting for those records. If monsters looked like monsters, it would be easy to spot that old Roman root.

Sevastous-of-Caria | 5 hours ago

Can someone tell me WHY ACTUALLY Europeans with tons of wealth and gold and Warehouses that stored gold since beyond probably Charlemagne decided to give it to US vaults for no reason at all? You know the metal that used as the wealth standart and economic reserve cushion. Like why?

Svardskampe | 4 hours ago

Because gold is only worth it in places where you can trade it, and its logistically almost undoable to trade that physically. The banks are an exchange where countries do deals over the contents without it changing places. It's also not like there is a sticker in that vault that says "specifically these bars are from country x". It's also easily exchanged against bonds of that country if you quickly want to sell it, and well, US bonds used to be a big trading matter with gold being indeed the traditionally backed value holder.

And from the end of the WW2, Fort Knox became one of the main trading hubs to do so. Next to Basel, Zwitserland and London.

The Netherlands, which is talked about a lot because of this change, still keeps 1/3rd of the total amount inside of the country in Zeist though (and actually in a new complex on a military terrain, https://www.dnb.nl/over-ons/renovatie/dnb-cashcentrum/) . But other countries like Belgium see absolutely no benefit in it at all to keep it local and have it in Canada and London.

Sevastous-of-Caria | 4 hours ago

Thanks for the writeup. Post ww2 and soviet tank formation creep probably also had an effect

dunningkrugerman | 3 hours ago

Because of WW2. We learned that exclusively local storage is risky when the germans yoinked our gold. North america was a safe third place, emphasis on was, to cover this risk in part.

madlucas2026 | 2 hours ago

No one trusts tdump or US anymore. 50-60 years of trust and cooperation gone in 18 months. Hey repukes in Congress, this is on you as well!!!

madlucas2026 | 2 hours ago

Fear of the Cold War and trust in post WWII America.