Global Central Bank Reserves Are Quietly Shifting — and Bitcoin Has Entered the Conversation
For decades, central bank reserves were effectively a two-asset system. Gold served as the long-term store of value. The U.S. dollar functioned as the global liquidity anchor.
The chart above shows how that balance evolved over time. Gold’s dominance declined after the 1970s, while dollar reserves expanded as global trade and financial markets became dollar-centric. That structure held for years, even through multiple crises.
What is changing now is not the size of Bitcoin in reserves, but its existence within them.
The Czech National Bank’s recent $1 million Bitcoin purchase is small in absolute terms. It does not alter reserve ratios today. However, it is meaningful from a structural perspective. Central banks are traditionally conservative institutions. They rarely introduce new reserve assets without long-term reasoning around liquidity, custody, and political neutrality.
Bitcoin’s inclusion reflects a few underlying realities:
• Growing concern over long-term fiat debt sustainability • Increased geopolitical fragmentation of reserve assets • Demand for assets that are globally transferable, supply-capped, and politically neutral
Importantly, this is not a replacement story. Gold remains critical. The dollar still dominates liquidity. Bitcoin is emerging as
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Global Central Bank Reserves Are Quietly Shifting — and Bitcoin Has Entered the Conversation
For decades, central bank reserves were effectively a two-asset system.
Gold served as the long-term store of value.
The U.S. dollar functioned as the global liquidity anchor.
The chart above shows how that balance evolved over time. Gold’s dominance declined after the 1970s, while dollar reserves expanded as global trade and financial markets became dollar-centric. That structure held for years, even through multiple crises.
What is changing now is not the size of Bitcoin in reserves, but its existence within them.
The Czech National Bank’s recent $1 million Bitcoin purchase is small in absolute terms. It does not alter reserve ratios today. However, it is meaningful from a structural perspective. Central banks are traditionally conservative institutions. They rarely introduce new reserve assets without long-term reasoning around liquidity, custody, and political neutrality.
Bitcoin’s inclusion reflects a few underlying realities:
• Growing concern over long-term fiat debt sustainability
• Increased geopolitical fragmentation of reserve assets
• Demand for assets that are globally transferable, supply-capped, and politically neutral
Importantly, this is not a replacement story. Gold remains critical. The dollar still dominates liquidity. Bitcoin is emerging as
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