Quote from: alani123 on Today at 08:47:46 AM

Compared to the wealth that has been created, gold reserves held by central banks is peanuts.

If you go to India, a gypsy family, Anatolia turks, Syrian, Lebanese cultures etc. now THIS is where gold reserves are actually used. A family getting their daughter married will invest substantial amounts of their wealth into gold. For them it's no joke. But when a central bank holds like 3% of the GDP in gold, it's nothing. It can't save the economy from a crisis and even with exmples of recent history, gold reserves have failed to get countries out of sticky situations. Look at Lebanon and Turkey.

The only way to get an economy out of a sticky situation and keep going is a continuous supply of something valuable. See Russia and gas. Iran and petrol + Uranium etc. These countries can be cocky in the international arena and at the same time save their economy from total collapse because they get a constant stream of income from their natural reserves.

You are right in saying that the people are the ones who hold the most gold. According to the World Gold Council, about 50% of all gold (about 95,000 tonnes) is used for jewelry and is owned by people in many different countries. But central banks are also big holders, they are not as small as you say. By 2024, central banks will hold about 20% of all mined gold (about 37 thousand tons).

The purpose of countries holding gold is to protect the economy, prevent risks due to economic crisis, natural disasters, war or geopolitics...And whether gold can save the economy in times of crisis depends on the government's economic and monetary policy, gold cannot guarantee anything.

https://investingnews.com/daily/resource-investing/precious-metals-investing/gold-investing/top-central-bank-gold-holdings/