GOLD IS NOT AN OBSOLETE RELIC

The Netherlands just moved 86 tonnes of gold. The reason is more important than the gold itself.

Between March and August 2026, the Dutch central bank, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), reallocated approximately 86 tonnes of its gold reserves from New York and Ottawa to London. DNB holds about 612.4 tonnes of gold, so the move represents roughly 14% of its entire reserve.

The Netherlands did not physically ship 86 tonnes of gold across the Atlantic and put it all into Dutch vaults.

More than 27 tonnes were physically moved from North America to the Netherlands. Approximately another 27 tonnes subsequently moved from the Netherlands to London. The remaining roughly 59 tonnes were sold in New York and repurchased in London. I ask myself, why do that once one is moving the assets in any case, unless it was cheaper to do that way, or the gold was not immediately available.

In other words, this was fundamentally a reallocation of custody and liquidity, not simply an 86-tonne shipment of bullion.

DNB told us exactly why it did it

DNB described the operation as an improvement in the tradability and accessibility of its gold reserves, specifically in preparation for a crisis.

The Dutch central bank says gold held in London is more readily tradable because London is the world’s major centre for physical gold trading. Gold held at the Bank of England must meet modern international trading standards and can therefore be mobilized more quickly.

DNB explicitly says that gold held in New York and Ottawa cannot be utilized as quickly and directly in a crisis.

The Netherlands isn’t saying: “We don’t believe in gold.” It is saying almost the exact opposite: “We believe gold is important enough in a crisis that we need to be certain we can access and mobilize it.”

The governor of DNB, Olaf Sleijpen, said the bank expects it will never need to use these reserves, but nevertheless needs to strengthen its resilience and preparedness. That is the central-bank language for access, liquidity, and insurance

This isn’t an emerging-market country

This is perhaps the most interesting part of the story. The Netherlands is not some financially distressed emerging-market country desperately trying to escape the dollar. It is a wealthy Western economy, a member of NATO, deeply integrated into the Western financial system. Yet its central bank has decided that where its physical gold is stored matters even without a crisis.

London’s share of Dutch gold has risen from roughly 18% to about 32%, while New York and Ottawa have each fallen to about 18.5%. Around 31% remains in the Netherlands.

The Gold didn’t disappear from the Western financial system. It moved from North America to London. That makes this more subtle than a simple “the Dutch are taking their gold out of America” story.

The real message is:

Western central banks are becoming increasingly concerned about where their gold is held and how quickly, securely, and independently they can mobilize it.

And London, rather than New York or Ottawa, is currently being regarded by DNB as the most immediately tradable location.

Physical gold versus paper gold

This brings us directly back to an argument I’ve been making for some time. There is a difference between owning gold and having a financial claim on gold.

There is also a difference between owning gold somewhere in the system and having gold that can be immediately accessed, mobilized and delivered.

Normally, these distinctions don’t seem particularly important. If the financial system is functioning perfectly, an unallocated claim, a futures contract, an ETF or physical bullion can all appear to perform the same economic function.

| But what happens in a genuine crisis?

Suddenly: Location matters. Custody matters. Allocation matters. Accessibility matters.

And that is precisely what DNB has just demonstrated.

Meanwhile, central banks keep buying

The Dutch move becomes even more interesting when viewed alongside global central-bank demand.

According to the World Gold Council, central banks and other institutions purchased approximately 289 tonnes of gold in the second quarter of 2026, 62% more than in Q2 2025. China increased the pace of its accumulation, while Poland was the largest buyer during the quarter.

China’s reported gold reserves also continued to rise, reaching approximately 2,346 tonnes in Q2 2026, up from about 2,313 tonnes in Q1. China is also sitting on the world’s largest foreign-exchange reserve stockpile. Its foreign-exchange reserves rose to approximately $3.438 trillion in August. Alasdair Macleod argues that China’s actual gold holdings may be vastly greater than the approximately 2,400 tonnes officially reported by the People’s Bank of China, with estimates running as high as 50,000 tonnes when gold accumulated through China’s wider state and financial system is considered. That figure is an estimate, not an officially disclosed reserve figure, and should therefore be treated as such.

So while investors debate whether gold has become “too expensive,” central banks are doing something rather different. They are continuing to accumulate. They are not necessarily buying because they expect gold to rise next Tuesday. They are buying because gold performs a different function on a sovereign balance sheet.

The World Gold Council estimates that approximately 220,000 tonnes of gold exist above ground globally. If China has 50,000 tons of gold it would own about 23% of the mined world gold.

The important question isn’t simply: “Where is gold trading?”

The spot price is determined at the margin by futures positioning, derivatives, liquidity, interest rates, currency movements, ETF flows and investor sentiment.

Central-bank reserve policy operates on a completely different time horizon. A central bank is asking: What do I want to own if the financial system doesn’t behave normally? increasingly, the answer appears to be: Gold. Not paper gold. Not an unallocated claim. Physical gold.

Increasingly, physical gold that is stored somewhere that can be accessed and traded quickly. In my own mind, I am not sure I would choose London.

This is why I don’t view the current correction in isolation

There is a temptation whenever gold falls sharply to declare that the gold story is finished. I don’t agree. The price correction and the underlying monetary architecture are two different things.

We can simultaneously have:

• Falling gold prices
• Strong central-bank purchases
• Countries diversifying the geographic location of their bullion
• China continuing to accumulate
• Increasing interest in allocated physical metal
• Concerns about sovereign debt
• Growing geopolitical fragmentation
• Increasing questions about the long-term role of the dollar

There is no contradiction. In fact, a substantial correction could ultimately prove quite healthy if it allows long-term physical buyers to acquire metal at better prices.

Watch what happens next

The Dutch move could prove to be an isolated example. Or it could be an early indication of something much larger.

If we subsequently see:

• Germany increasing diversification of its gold storage

• Italy doing the same

• France moving more bullion into Europe

• European central banks reducing their dependence on New York custody

• Asian central banks continuing to accumulate

• Shanghai physical premiums remaining elevated

• Greater demand for allocated rather than unallocated metal

then we may be watching something much more important than a normal gold bull market. We may be watching a gradual restructuring of the architecture of gold ownership.

The message from the Netherlands

I think the most important sentence in this entire story is not that the Netherlands moved 86 tonnes.

It is why they moved it.

DNB is effectively telling us:

Gold is a crisis asset, and therefore custody matters.

That should make us think very carefully about the distinction between paper exposure to gold and immediately accessible physical metal.

For years, gold has been described as an obsolete relic yet the world’s central banks continue to buy it, now one of Europe’s major Western central banks has gone a step further. It has looked at its own gold reserves and asked a very practical question:

“If there is a crisis tomorrow, how quickly can I actually get my gold?”

That is not the question asked by someone who believes gold is obsolete. It is the question asked by someone who believes gold may be extremely important when the normal financial system isn’t working properly. That, in my opinion, is the part of this story we should be paying attention to.

Paper gold can be sold in seconds. Physical gold has to exist somewhere. Increasingly, central banks appear to be thinking very carefully about where that somewhere is.

This obviously is only part of the story, my mind goes to why the Dutch government feels it may have a crisis and what crisis it has in mind, where it would have to sell its gold to cover that crisis.

PLATINUM

SELL: On the Daily chart (29 August 2026). Reversing. Another day for confirmation.

URANIUM

SELL (29 August 2026) URA. Reversing.

BITCOIN AND GOLD

Gold outperforms Bitcoin  (09 September 2026).  17.76 One ounce gold coins buys one bitcoin, this was over 41 ounces August 2025.

ETHUSD: SELL: ( 29 August 2026).

BTCUSD: SELL: 29 August 2026.  NASDAQ (Cyan).

GOLD AND SILVER STOCK

02 September 2026 Gold outperforms gold stocks

Silver outperforms silver stocks (09 September 2026).

GOLD AND SILVER

Silver to Gold Ratio

Silver outperforming Gold. (22 July 2026)  Silver is coming out of the ground at about 8:1 and the Gold: Silver ratio is 65.42:1.

GOLD TO USD

USD outperforms Gold, (29 August 2026).

Copper (SELL: 30 August  2026) Reversing.

GOLD AND SILVER CHART

Gold’s low of the week was $4,324.00 and the high was $4,443.00 now trading at around $4,367.00.

• Gold Monthly:  is an OUT. (25 March 2026). Looking more positive. Signals turning positive

• Gold Weekly:  (HOLD: 13 August 2026)  A very early buy signal.

• Gold Daily: (SELL 02 September 2026).

The low for Silver this week was $63.92 and the high was $68.32, trading around $64.59 at present. 

• Silver Monthly: (OUT: 20260430.  ( Buy $24.00 in March 2024 to Sell May 2026 $73.13 = 204% Gain in 2 years 2 months). A couple of indicators are pointing up. No buy yet.

• Silver Weekly: (HOLD: 20 August 2026). A little weaker. No sell signals.

• Silver Daily: SELL (01 September 2026).  I have taken the sell signal because the system says so. I am not totally convinced. The system has proven to be more accurate than my gut. The same goes for gold daily above. SYSTEM WINS AGAIN.

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A video by Mike Adams on the Goldbacks. Well worth a look. watch here

On the Stockcharts.com charts above, the blue vertical lines are our proprietary system buy signals and the red vertical lines are system sell signals – for information purposes only

An interview with Josh, owner of Scottsdale Mint: watch here

Please contact us to arrange the purchase and storage of your gold and silver requirements in a safe, insured location outside of your jurisdiction.

If you are interested in an overview of Fort Kobbe, you may want to have a look at this video: Mike Brown, Director, Fort Kobbe, International Vaults, A DotCom Magazine Exclusive Interview

This is my interpretation of the market and is not to be taken as financial advice. Before making any buy or sell decisions, I recommend that you consult with your professional financial advisor.