The strongest signal permeating the global financial market is currently emerging from China. Amid rising tensions between the US and China, and with concerns spreading about the instability of various currencies, China has chosen gold as its last resort to protect its domestic economy. This is interpreted as a move to establish a strategic defense shield at the national level, going beyond simple investment preference. Recent statistics reveal that China's gold imports are accelerating once again, attracting the attention of global economic experts.
In March last year, the amount of gold China imported from abroad reached a staggering 162 tons. This figure not only set a new record since March 2024 but also shows a trend of steady increase in imports for three consecutive months. Furthermore, the cumulative imports from the beginning of this year to the present are set to reach a massive scale of approximately 365 tons. The background for securing such a huge volume is not only the enthusiastic purchases by private investors but also the powerful effect of strategic reserves made by institutions and at the national level.
The People's Bank of China, the central bank of China, announced that it secured 5 tons of gold in just one month in last March, recording the largest purchase volume since February 2025. This is the result of the People's Bank increasing its gold holdings for 17 consecutive months, and China's official gold holdings have reached 2,313 tons, once again setting a record for the highest ever. The Chinese authorities are clearly indicating their intention to reduce the proportion of US Treasury holdings in favor of expanding the proportion of tangible assets like gold. This can be seen as a step in the 'de-dollarization' drive to become independent from the US-dollar-centric international financial order, and reflects the will to reduce dependence on currency-based assets such as US Treasuries.
China's obsession with gold is also influenced by internal economic instability. Amid the difficulties China's domestic economy is facing, such as the stagnation of the real estate market and the loss of growth drivers, investors are citing gold as the safest asset. This phenomenon throws an important implication not only on gold but also on the Bitcoin market, which is also called 'digital gold'. The price surge and demand explosion in traditional safe assets like gold naturally have the effect of increasing interest in alternative assets, and the possibility of Chinese capital flowing into digital assets as well as gold is also consistently raised. Especially, as Hong Kong, which is actively cultivating the digital asset industry, can accelerate such capital flows, it is expected to be a major variable in the future virtual asset market.