2022 reshaped the demand side of the gold market. After Russia invaded Ukraine, the West froze roughly $300 billion of Russia's foreign-exchange reserves — a demonstration that dollar and euro reserves can be switched off at will. For central banks everywhere, the lesson was immediate: gold, held in your own vaults, cannot be frozen by a foreign government.
Official gold buying surged to a record pace, exceeding 1,000 tonnes in 2022 and again in 2023 — the fastest sustained accumulation in modern history. This structural, price-insensitive demand, traceable in our reserves database, helps explain why the modern bull has been so durable even with high interest rates. It set the stage for the records of 2024–2025.
Key events of 2022
- 2022-02-26
Russian reserves frozen
The West immobilizes ~$300bn of Russia’s FX reserves; gold’s sanction-proof appeal jumps.
- 2022-09-01
Record central-bank buying
Official purchases run toward 1,000+ tonnes for the year, a modern record.