Investors have been piling into gold recently amid ongoing geopolitical and economic uncertainty. But with prices near record highs, will demand persist?

During the 35^th Annual BMO Global Metals, Mining & Critical Minerals Conference World Gold Council Reception, hosted by BMO Capital Markets, Helen Amos , Macro Commodity Analyst, BMO Capital Markets, sat down with David Tait, CEO of the World Gold Council (WGC), to get his outlook on the precious metal and to learn how innovations like digitized gold could reshape demand by the end of this year.

Central banks continued to add to their gold reserves last year, although the pace was slower than in recent years. In 2025, central banks collectively purchased 863 tonnes of the precious metal, down from the 1,000+ tonnes per year over the three prior years, according to WGC data. Still, Tait noted that overall demand remains strong, and well above average, with purchases from some countries accelerating. Poland, Kazakhstan, Brazil, and Turkey all increased their buying in the last several months.

The central bank purchases come even as prices sit near record highs. Normally, high prices might give central banks a reason to sell some of their gold holdings, but that hasn’t happened, said Tait. “The majority of the buying across the world – whether it’s central banks or otherwise – has been driven by this deep fear that we need to have gold in our reserves,” Tait said.

While central bank gold purchases have received a lot of market attention, retail demand has also been a significant driver. While Tait can identify about seven reasons why retail demand has been so strong, he said the most compelling one is concern about the sustainability of U.S. debt levels.

“The retail bar and coin demand will continue as long as there is this implicit threat to our financial security,” he said.

It’s not only retail investors and central banks driving recent demand for gold. Tether, the cryptocurrency company behind the world’s largest stablecoin, has been catching investors’ attention for buying significant amounts of the precious metal and stockpiling it in bunkers in Switzerland. The company said it bought 27 tonnes of gold in the fourth quarter of last year alone.

While Tether is a relatively new player in the gold space, Tait said its growing presence in the market can’t be ignored.

Since the 2022 launch of its Gold247 initiative, the WGC has been looking to increase transparency, improve market infrastructure, and enhance the way gold is traded and used. This year, the digitization of gold is poised to take a big step forward. “By the end of the year, we will have seen the conclusion of a real-world pilot where digital gold is pledged as collateral for the very first time in history.”

This year, WGC is working with banks in London to trial new Pooled Gold Interests (PGIs), which are expected to help lenders and investors trade and use gold more easily. This includes being able to use the precious metal as collateral. “The idea is to connect the physical layer, the physical supply chain, with the ability to create various forms of digital asset class going forward, not just tokens,” Tait said. “We think it will bring enormous amounts of liquidity to the market.”

Another priority for the WGC is to address the illicit flows of gold to limit the influence of bad actors. One way the WGC hopes to accomplish this is through addressing challenges in the artisanal, small-scale gold mining value chain. One of many initiatives underway is the development traceability technology including the use of blockchain to map gold from mine to market to increase the transparency of the supply chain.

The aim is to create a database for all responsibly sourced gold that is immutable, Tait explained. “Eventually, the average person will be able to look at an app on their phone to check where the gold has come from.”