Most gold remains in private hands, with 43% in jewelry.
Bullion, coins and exchange-traded funds account for 23% of the total supply.
Gold continues to consolidate itself as a strategic asset for States. Until the end of 2025, global central banks accumulated approximately 38,666 tons, representing about 17% of the total existing gold supply.
This growth positions them as key players in the market. Data published on April 22, 2026 by the financial newsletter The Kobeissi Letter, show a reality broader: Gold is still mostly in private hands.
The largest portion corresponds to jewelry: some 97,645 tons (equivalent to 43% of the total) are in the form of pieces used for consumption, especially in markets such as India and China, where gold fulfills a dual cultural and financial function.
In second place are holdings linked to investment. Bullions, coins and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) total about 50,978 tons, representing 23% of the total.
This category reflects the use of gold as a store of value by individual and institutional investors.
The rest of the supply, some 32,602 tons (14%), is distributed in other categories, which include industrial applications and private reserves not classified within the previous segments.
It is worth clarifying that this advance of central banks as buyers does not imply that they control the market, but it does influence its dynamics.
As CriptoNoticias reported on April 9, for the first time since 1996 the value of gold in the hands of central banks exceeded that of United States Treasury bonds, marking a break in a cycle of almost three decades in which US debt functioned as the main reserve refuge.
According to this analysis, the phenomenon responds to a combination of factors. On the one hand, gold reached record prices in January 2026, while Treasury bonds lost appeal in a high interest rate environment.
While this scenario increases nominal yields, it also reduces the market value of the bonds in the portfolio and increases the risk of unrealized lossessomething especially relevant for central banks.
On the other hand, the search for assets that do not depend on an issuing government grew, in a context where the use of the dollar as a sanctions tool reinforced the diversification of reserves, especially in emerging economies.
This movement is led by China, whose central bank chained 17 consecutive months of gold purchases. Other countries such as Poland and India are joining this process, consolidating a trend in which the precious metal gains weight as a strategic asset within the global monetary system.