The Gold Vault Where the US Stores Other Countries’ Bullion, and Why Some Europeans Are Taking It Back

Twenty-five meters below Liberty Street in New York, a 90-ton steel cylinder protects the Federal Reserve’s gold vault, where more than half a million bars belonging to central banks, governments and institutions around the world are stored.

The vault holds about 6,300 tonnes of gold. At current prices, the holdings are worth more than $1 trillion, roughly 4% of the US gross domestic product. Once the massive lock closes, it cannot be opened again until the following day.

For decades, countries have kept gold there as a reserve asset to support their currencies and respond to financial or geopolitical crises. Gold remains a refuge during financial turbulence, geopolitical volatility and inflation, making it an important part of central-bank reserves, especially in Europe.

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It is one of their most important assets because, in the face of adverse geopolitical events, it allows them to act as lenders of last resort for banks and companies and intervene in foreign-exchange markets.

Barry Eichengreen, an expert on the international monetary system at the University of California, Berkeley, said gold allows central banks to act as lenders of last resort to banks and companies and to intervene in foreign-exchange markets when geopolitical conditions deteriorate.

European countries began building up reserves in the United States in the 1950s, when they feared the Soviet threat. The Federal Reserve and the United States were viewed as reliable custodians. But a debate over repatriation has grown since Donald Trump returned to power. The Netherlands’ central bank said it had moved billions of dollars in gold from North America to London because of “growing geopolitical instability.”

Concerns have been sharpened by Trump’s approach to international commitments and disputes with European allies over tariffs, Greenland’s sovereignty and, more recently, the war against Iran. Unlike Russia, which stores its gold within its own territory and limits the potential impact of Western sanctions, several European countries still hold reserves abroad, including in New York.

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Growing geopolitical instability.