by Mike Maharrey, Gold Seek:
Russia’s use of gold during its war with Ukraine reveals one of the reasons why so many countries are stockpiling the yellow metal.
Central banks around the world have bought thousands of tons of gold over the last several years. The pace of buying picked up after the U.S. and its allies froze Russian dollar assets and locked the country out of the SWIFT payment system.
This weaponization of the dollar was a wake-up call for many countries, especially those with strained relations with the U.S. and the West. Worried that the United States and its allies could use the dollar against them, many countries have attempted to diversify their reserves to minimize that possibility. An Indian economist summed up the thinking of many, telling the Times of India that the “reliability” of the U.S. dollar has “diminished” and noting the “noticeable decline” in confidence in U.S. dollar assets.
