Russia has been increasing its gold reserves lately, mainly through buying gold domestically, becoming the largest buyer of the metal in 2018 and aiming to do it again in 2019. This trend started at about the same time in Russia began selling US Treasuries, reducing its value in US assets from US $92 billion to US $10.07 billion in US debt. This tendency to reduce the amount of dollar-denominated assets is in line with Vladimir Putin’s warnings that the dollar may lose its dominant position and reserve currency status. The Russian president linked this possibility to a strategy recently adopted by the US authorities to impose unilateral sanctions and use the dollar as a political lever to force other countries to bow to Washington’s will. https://www.fort-russ.com/2019/12/r...=wp&utm_campaign=push&utm_content=new-article
I bet the countries that have been hoarding tons and tons of gold are happy they did. When push comes to shove they can deal in gold and avoid all fiats if they so choose, which is happening already. Theres no other reason for stacking real money and they know it. The trade deal failure reality is setting in.