China's central bank increased its gold holdings for a 21st consecutive month in July, lifting reserves to 76.08 million ounces from 75.44 million ounces at the end of June after buying 640,000 ounces, or about 20 metric tons. The July purchase was the biggest monthly addition since October 2023 and extended a recent acceleration in buying, following 160,000 ounces in March and 480,000 ounces in June. At current prices, China's gold stockpile is worth more than $306 billion. The buying came as gold rebounded sharply, rising 8% from last week's low to close at $4,342 an ounce after previously sliding from a record high of $5,600 to just under $4,000 within months. The recovery helped bullion return to roughly breakeven for the year. Beijing has also been shifting a significant share of its gold reserves from London to Hong Kong as it backs the city's push to become a larger global center for gold trading and pricing. Official-sector demand has broadened beyond China. World Gold Council data showed central banks bought a record 289 tonnes of gold in the second quarter, up 74% from a year earlier, underscoring the scale of reserve diversification toward bullion. In contrast, China has tightened restrictions on cryptocurrency-related business activity this year, reaffirming that such operations remain illegal and expanding scrutiny to stablecoins and real-world asset tokenization.