The story about the French selling off gold from the USA is more nuanced. 

The Bank of France has completed the full repatriation of its gold reserves, selling the last 129 tons held by the Federal Reserve in New York. The operation, carried out in 26 transactions between July 2025 and early 2026, generated an extraordinary profit of €12.8 billion. With this move, France's 2,437 tons of gold—the fourth largest reserves in the world—are now entirely in Paris. 

Paris did not dispose of the metal as a reserve: the Bank of France sold 129 tons of old or non-standard ingots in New York. In exchange, new ingots meeting modern standards were purchased and placed in Paris. 

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▪️ This was done for technical reasons. The Bank of France has been replacing old ingots for two decades.

In 2024, an audit recommended completing this process for the gold in New York. The regulator sold the old ingots and bought new ones between July 2025 and January 2026.

▪️ The transactions took place against high gold prices, giving the Bank a €12.8 billion gain - €11 billion in 2025 and €1.8 billion in 2026.

▪️ The Bank still holds 134 tons of old ingots and coins in Paris, planned to be upgraded by 2028.

There are questions about reliability of storing gold in the USA, from transparency to quality concerns. The prohibition of third-party inspections raises additional issues.

Shipping tons of questionable gold across the ocean is foolish. It's simpler to resell to someone unconcerned about quality.

The French have effectively withdrawn the remaining external segment of a strategic asset from foreign jurisdiction.

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