France pulls last gold held in US • Hacker News Board

Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#141

Post by amelius » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 12:22 PM UTC

mort96 wrote: post #56

codethief wrote: post #51

Is anyone here actually reading the article? Yes, they really made a gain of $15B: > But instead of refining and transporting the gold, it opted to sell the bars and purchase new bullion in Europe. […] Due to rising gold prices, the move helped the bank to generate a capital gain of 13 billion euros ($15 billion),

This doesn't make sense. If they first sold the bars held in the US, then the gold prices rose, then they bought gold in Europe, how the hell did that amount to a capital gain of $15b? How exactly do prices rising over the course of the process lead to these $15b?

Gold prices probably went up due to turmoil in middle east.

Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#142

Post by dev1ycan » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 12:23 PM UTC

Charles de Gaulle was such an incredible man, nearly 60 years after his death he still keeps influencing the direction of France (for the better)

Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#143

Post by gostsamo » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 12:23 PM UTC

vbezhenar wrote: post #98

mort96 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would it count as a "political reason" if their risk management calculations crossed a threshold where it's worth it to move the gold back? I imagine such calculations are done and revised all the time and account for the perceived stability and reliability of a country.

Russia's frozen assets probably were considered safe by the similar calculations. Everything is safe until it is not.

The gas supply from Russia was announced as secure* until it was not.

* mainly by Russia and people on their payroll that is.

Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#144

Post by wolvoleo » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 12:25 PM UTC

ur-whale wrote: post #123

wolvoleo wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh yes that's what I mean. I don't like calling it the Netherlands.

> Oh yes that's what I mean. I don't like calling it the Netherlands. it was tongue-in-cheek dude. literal people are a hoot.

True everyone loves hooters :3

Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#145

Post by ivell » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 12:28 PM UTC

Iulioh wrote: post #135

okanat wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just like the majority of the classical economists and policymakers, you would call him a blithering idiot and overzealous nationalist two decades ago. It was thought that this kind of behavior caused world-wars. I mean it did cause them. It is just we're speed running the next one that changed the narrative.

This behavior is economically inefficient, that's why it's criticized. And it's undeniable But the point is that "economical efficiency" is not the only metric that matters, stability and power do not come cheap.

I think many academics are often specialized in one area of their expertise and overfit in that dimension. Journalists pick this up and promote those views a bit too much. This results in non-optimal decisions due to skewed public perceptions.

We need to promote holistic thinking considering multiple dimensions and not just one where academics are proficient in.

Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#146

Post by Iulioh » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 12:32 PM UTC

ivell wrote: post #145

Iulioh wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This behavior is economically inefficient, that's why it's criticized. And it's undeniable But the point is that "economical efficiency" is not the only metric that matters, stability and power do not come cheap.

I think many academics are often specialized in one area of their expertise and overfit in that dimension. Journalists pick this up and promote those views a bit too much. This results in non-optimal decisions due to skewed public perceptions. We need to promote holistic thinking considering multiple dimensions and not just one where academics are proficient in.

The problem is that there isn't simply an efficient solution for everything. At one point every problem has solutions with pros and cons

France could do it as it is a rich and big country but smaller countries do not have a viable choice. This reasoning could have been applied to France too in another universe.

It's a balance impossible to totally tilt one way or another.

So no amount of extra information could help when it's matter of opinion at the end of the day

Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#147

Post by H8crilA » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 12:33 PM UTC

raincole wrote: post #140

mort96 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the logic that it's "unrealised" while the gold is stored in the US but becomes "realised" once it is stored in Paris? Why?

If you buy $100,000 of RAM and just hoard them, and a shortage happens, you won't update their value according to their market price, until you sell them. That's it. It has nothing to do with whether your RAM is stored in New York or Paris.

You treat your brokerage account this way? I'm sure that the retirement funds don't.

Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#148

Post by tonfa » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 12:35 PM UTC

inglor_cz wrote: post #136

cloudbonsai wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bank of France "transported" their reserve by selling the gold held in New York, and subsequently buying the same amount in European market. They opted to do so because it's just more efficient. It takes a lot of efforts to physically move 129 tonnes of gold after all. And as a side effect of this relocation project, they ended up recording a capital gain. It's nothing-burger.

The transport would likely be quite expensive as well. Lots of armed people needed to move gold around, plus special vehicles.

For context, in 2025H1, 480 tons where moved from CH to the US (I assume originating from UK after being recast).

My guess is that the choice to sell rather than transport was also due to using the (at the time) price divergence between US and European markets. (arbitrage + not having to pay transport + refining)

Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#149

Post by jmyeet » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 12:37 PM UTC

The funny thing about this is that since 1945, France keeps and uses the majority of the gold reserves of 14 former French colonies in West and Central Africa and uses that power to make them use the CFA Franc, a currency pegged formerly to the French Franc but now of course to the Euro [1].

It's worth noting that the stated reason here isn't because of, say, US instability but rather "standardizing" the gold. It doesn't say what that means but I assume France is basically selling some New York held nonstandard gold to "standard" gold held in France. "Standard" here probably means a given size and purity. Yes, there are different purity levels to gold. So think the heavy bullion bars you see on movies.

[1]: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-the-france-backed-afr...

Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#150

Post by rdtsc » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 12:38 PM UTC

u1hcw9nx wrote: post #105

>However, an operation to repatriate its gold holdings began in the 1960s leading up to the US termination of the Bretton Woods system, which effectively stopped foreign governments from exchanging dollars for gold. French-US monetary history after WWII: Under the Bretton Woods agreement (1944-1971), the US dollar was the world’s reserve currency, and it was pegged to gold at $35 per ounce. Other countries pegged the…

> trade, then French Navy picked those gold bullions from NY

I couldn’t find any clear news source or academic reference to that event. I see a lot of references on gold buying/selling sites mostly. I would imagine a Fench Navy ship docked NY and loading tons of gold would make quite a stir.