Something interesting is happening in the world's vaults. Central banks have been accumulating roughly 1,000 tonnes of gold per year over the past four years, about twice the average pace of the previous decade. And apparently they're not finished.
A 2026 World Gold Council survey found that 89% expect global central-bank gold reserves to keep rising. 45% expect to increase their own gold holdings, the highest percentage in the survey's history. China, Poland, Uzbekistan and others continue buying.
Which raises an interesting question for Bitcoiners. Gold and Bitcoin share much of the same sales pitch, scarcity, no government's liability, protection from currency debasement, and a store of value outside the traditional financial system.
Bitcoin arguably improves on gold in portability, divisibility and verifiability. Yet when governments themselves want an asset outside another government's control, they're still buying tons of metal and putting it in vaults. Maybe central banks can't realistically hold Bitcoin yet, or maybe gold still possesses something Bitcoin hasn't earned, centuries of trust.
If you were building a national reserve from scratch today and had to choose one, gold or bitcoin?
Honestly, both. You have to have some gold because everyone else has gold but you have to have some Bitcoin because that is where we are moving.
"Both” is probably the better answer.
Gold has the advantage of centuries of monetary trust and, as Darrel points out, countries like China have a strategic reason to accumulate something outside the dollar system.
Bitcoin offers something gold can't, a globally transferable, verifiable scarce asset that doesn't require moving tons of metal between vaults.
Maybe this isn't gold vs bitcoin...gold may be what nations trust during the transition, while bitcoin is what eventually changes what a reserve asset can be.
From what I've seen on YouTube, so you know it's true, China is trying to lock down the world reserve currency, or at least get a seat at the table, by reverting to the gold standard. All signs point to the world moving away from the dollar. China is trying to move back to gold and the US is trying to use stablecoins to make the world reserve currency US Treasuries and the digital dollar as the unit of account.