BRICS
March 23, 2026
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The BRICS gold rush reshaped global reserve management after Western nations froze $300 billion of Russian reserves in 2022, as Reuters reported. Central banks gold buying surged from roughly 500 tonnes a year to over 1,000 tonnes annually and has stayed there. BRICS gold reserves growth has taken combined holdings past 6,000 tonnes, now 17.4% of global central banks reserves, up from 11.2% in 2019.
This de-dollarization gold strategy is not theoretical: dollar assets held abroad can be frozen overnight. A formal BRICS gold standard is still a research-stage idea, but sovereign buying is already moving markets. The six-month chart below shows gold climbing from around $4,000 in December to a peak near $5,500 in late January, before pulling back to current levels around $4,837.
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De-Dollarization And Central Banks Gold Buying Surge Explained
The BRICS gold rush accelerated after a single event. When Western sanctions hit Russia following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, roughly half of Russia’s foreign exchange reserves became inaccessible. The de-dollarization gold strategy BRICS nations had been building shifted almost overnight from policy preference to urgent practice.
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov stated in an interview with state TV channel Rossiya 1 on March 13, 2022:
“This is roughly half of the reserves that we had. Our reserves are worth approximately $640 billion, with about $300 billion currently being in such a state that we cannot use them.”
No foreign authority can freeze gold stored in domestic vaults through SWIFT. Every finance ministry watching drew the same conclusion, and central banks gold purchases nearly doubled in the aftermath.
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What The Data Shows
The BRICS gold rush shows clearly in the purchase numbers. The bulk of BRICS gold reserves growth sits with three members: Russia at 2,336 tonnes, China at 2,298 tonnes, and India at 880 tonnes. BRICS+ central banks made more than 50% of all sovereign gold purchases globally between 2020 and 2024. Annual central banks gold buying exceeded 1,000 tonnes in 2022, 2023, and 2024, the longest streak in modern central banking history. That demand drove gold from roughly $3,500 a year ago to current levels, as the chart below shows.
The IMF’s COFER data shows the dollar’s reserve share fell from 71% in 1999 to about 57% by end-2025, its lowest since 1994. The World Gold Council’s 2025 survey found that 73% of central bankers globally expect the dollar’s share to fall further, with 43% planning to increase gold holdings.
A New Settlement Architecture
In October 2025, the BRICS gold rush produced something new. Researchers at IRIAS launched a pilot for the “Unit,” a digital settlement token backed 40% by gold and 60% by BRICS currencies. IRIAS designed it to reduce dollar dependency in trade between member nations, and while it falls short of a formal BRICS gold standard, the direction is unmistakable. With BRICS gold reserves growth this strong, a broader rollout looks realistic.
Mining investor Frank Giustra had this to say at the Precious Metals Summit in Beaver Creek, Colorado:
“We’re now, believe it or not, in the era of hard money. If you own paper gold, you do not own gold.”
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The World Gold Council projects 750 to 850 tonnes of central banks gold buying in 2026, about 20% of global mine supply, with sovereign buyers purchasing regardless of price. Reserve managers have now woven the de-dollarization gold strategy into how they think about risk, not just returns. A formal BRICS gold standard may still be years away, but where sovereign buyers are heading is no longer in doubt.
