A closer look
Even central banks get incredibly bored just sitting on inert mountains of shiny metal. Instead of letting national reserves collect dust in an underground vault, institutions like the Bank of England lease out sovereign gold to commercial bullion banks. The commercial banks then use the gold to short the market, provide liquidity, or manufacture jewelry, paying the central bank a leasing fee. It is a bizarre financial loophole where governments artificially squeeze extra profit out of their disaster-prep reserves while the actual physical gold never even leaves the basement.
