More than 30 tons of gold were “physically transferred” from the United States and Canada to the Dutch bank’s vault in the town of Zeist.

Data: World Gold Council; Chart: Emily Peck/Axios The Dutch central bank said this week that it was shifting about 86 tonnes of gold bars out of New York and Canada and moving them closer to home. Why it matters: Countries are rethinking where they stash their gold reserves,

The Netherlands moved some 90 tons of gold out of the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, the second European nation this year to announce it had decreased or eliminated U.S. gold holdings.

DNB has not described the move as politically motivated. Instead, it has repeatedly framed it as risk diversification and crisis planning.

The Netherlands and France have shifted gold reserves as geopolitical tensions put new focus on where Europe keeps its bullion.

The Netherlands has $83.7bn worth of gold in domestic and foreign reserves.

The Dutch central bank moved 86.4 U.S. tons of gold out of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York between March and August 2026, redirecting the bullion to London in what it called a crisis readiness measure.

The move was ‘fairly one-off move’, one expert said, but if other central banks followed suit, it could damage confidence in the US.