Nassim Taleb linked the growth of the role of gold with the freezing of Russian assets

Gold is becoming a reserve currency against the background of a decline in the reliability of the dollar, said at the Greenwich Economic Forum American economist, author of the book “Black Swan” and a scientist at Universa Investments Nassim Taleb, who predicted the crisis of 2008. A fragment of his speech published by Bloomberg.

According to Taleb, this is due not only to the actions of the US government, but also to the freezing of assets of people associated with the Russian authorities. For an investor, such decisions may seem arbitrary, so he begins to transfer some of his reserves from the dollar to gold. Taleb noted that against this background, gold has risen sharply.

At the beginning of 2022, the volume of frozen sovereign assets of Russia was estimated at about $ 300 billion. Most of the Russian reserves in Europe are held in the Belgian depository Euroclear. In December 2025, the EU indefinitely froze €210 billion of Russian assets. Moscow called any actions with its foreign assets illegal and warned of legal consequences.

He also cited the Netherlands, which returned its gold to the country. According to Taleb, countries are hoarding gold to avoid being in a situation where their assets could be frozen. At the same time, the economist believes that gold currently has no obvious alternative as a reserve asset.

“The story of gold becoming a reserve currency is still relevant, and in fact it has become an even greater reserve currency. There is no alternative to gold. The Chinese currency cannot replace the dollar because people have a habit of transacting in dollars, and that would annoy someone in Washington if trades were made in another currency. Transactions are made in dollars, and people store gold in other currencies. And the currency that attracts people the most is gold, Taleb added.

Speaking about the prospects of gold, Taleb noted that its value is expressed in dollars, the situation of which remains difficult. He attributed this to the accumulated US budget deficit and the expected increase in debt service costs. In these circumstances, Taleb recommended investing in reliable assets.

After the Western countries froze almost half of Russia’s foreign exchange reserves in 2022, the central banks of a number of countries began to reconsider their attitude to gold as a reserve asset. In the summer of 2023, Reuters, citing a study by the American investment company Invesco, reported that almost 60% of central banks surveyed consider gold more attractive amid sanctions against Russia. The share of those who keep gold reserves in their country then rose to 68 against 50% in 2020.

The study participants also noted geopolitical tensions and inflation as factors forcing countries to diversify their reserves. Most respondents still did not see an alternative to the dollar as the world’s reserve currency, and the potential role of the renminbi was rated lower than a year earlier.

In 2025, interest in gold, according to the World Gold Council, increased, including amid geopolitical uncertainty. While central banks continued to build up gold reserves, the price of the metal, according to Moneymatika.ru, for the year more than 50 times updated the historical maximum and rose by more than 60%. By the end of the year, gold had surpassed $4,000 per troy ounce, and at its peak exceeded $4,500.