France has brought all its official gold reserves back home, in a move that netted more than 12 billion euros in profits -- and underscored growing unease about the world's heavy dependence on the U.S. dollar amid rising geopolitical tensions, according to a French economist.
Between July 2025 and January 2026, the Bank of France completed the transfer of the final 129 tons of gold, clearing out all holdings previously stored in the United States.
Older, non-standard bars held in New York were sold, and an equivalent amount of new, internationally standardized bars was purchased on the European market and stored in the central bank's underground vault.
The operation required no large-scale physical shipment of gold and generated approximately 12.8 billion euros in gains.
The move comes as central banks around the world continue to increase their gold holdings, with some countries choosing to bring reserves home for greater security.
"What are the reasons behind this recent goal policy of France? As I said, the official reason was just to adjust the quality standard. But then we can see two other reasons. The other reason is a kind of geopolitical reasons, for sovereignty reasons. Central banks now are reconsidering the importance of gold because today the dominant currency in the world is still the U.S. dollar. But a lot of countries now think that there might be confidence problem in the U.S. dollar because of current U.S. policies," Eric Monnet, a professor at the Paris School of Economics.
France pulls all gold from US amid mounting geopolitical concerns: expert
The International Deep Space Exploration (Tiandu) Conference run from Thurday from Friday in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, where Chinese commercial space companies laid out their plans for expanding lunar activity.
At the event, firms presented lunar ambitions ranging from rovers and robotics to rockets and visions for long-term human stays, marking what Wu Weiren, director of the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory and a Chinese academician, called "the age of commercial lunar exploration" in his opening keynote speech.
Among the active players, Galactic Energy celebrated the successful maiden flight of its medium-lift liquid rocket PALLAS-1 on Tuesday and is now preparing the larger PALLAS-2 for potential lunar and deep-space missions. Xia Dongkun, the company's executive president, said the goal is to access rare earth elements and other resources on the Moon and asteroids, which are far more abundant than on Earth.
Guangzhou-based CAS Space also shared footage of its Kinastra-1 upper stage, which is set to carry out the company's first lunar mission. The stage is expected to place a satellite into a trans-lunar transfer trajectory in the first quarter of 2027.
"Building on the successful maiden-flight verification, we will focus on advancing a three-step plan for deep-space applications -- helping unlock the trillion-yuan value of the space economy," said Zhu Qinglin, deputy chief designer of the Kinastra-1 upper stage.
Beyond technology demonstrations, the conference was aimed to lay the groundwork for sustainable and inclusive deep space exploration. Organizers announced that the China-led Cislunar CubeSat Constellation (C3) Program will be open to scientists and institutions worldwide, giving developing countries opportunities to participate in deep-space missions.
"It gets busier. We have more actors. It's more accessible in that sense, which is a good thing. But it's maybe for the first time in human history that we are trying to get to the moon with some mechanism already in place -- these principles for everyone's benefit and go there. With those principles very well understood, so that it can be, in a way or another, sustainable for the future," said Ulpia-Elena Botezatu, co-chair of UN-COPUOS Action Team on Lunar Activities Consultation.
Chinese commercial space companies aim high for expanding lunar activity at Hefei conference
