China is building an infrastructure to receive, store, trade and settle gold, with Hong Kong at the center of this strategy. In June 2025, the Shanghai Gold Exchange opened in Hong Kong its first physical gold delivery vault outside mainland China, operated by the Bank of China. The city also launched a central gold clearing system and plans to increase its storage capacity to more than 2,000 tons by 2030, creating a physical link between the Hong Kong and Shanghai markets.
Russia has become one of the main suppliers of gold to this circuit. According to the Financial Times, Hong Kong imported nearly 100 tons of Russian gold in the first seven months of 2026, almost three times more than the previous year. Since 2022, Hong Kong entities have purchased approximately 35 billion dollars of Russian gold, which ends up reaching mainland China. The explanation lies in Western sanctions, which have led Russian producers to seek buyers in Asia through Hong Kong, which does not apply the same restrictions.
China is also developing a global vault network, with possible locations in countries and centers linked to its international strategy, including BRICS countries, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Africa. The strategy is particularly interesting because Beijing does not need to buy other countries' gold — a central bank can remain the owner of its bars and simply store them in Hong Kong, becoming integrated into China's financial infrastructure. China is also strengthening its own reserves, with 21 consecutive months of purchases, raising official reserves to approximately 2,366 tons.
The ultimate goal is to strengthen the international role of the yuan. China is developing a network that allows trading and custodying gold outside the financial circuit dominated by the dollar. If a country sells oil to China, receives yuan and can convert that yuan into gold through a nearby vault network, it then has a partial alternative to the dollar-London-New York circuit. However, London and New York continue to move about five times more gold than Hong Kong, so China is building an alternative, not replacing Western centers.
