Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse used De Nederlandsche Bank’s (DNB, Dutch central bank) transfer of about 86 tonnes of gold between March and August 2026 to argue that financial infrastructure remains constrained by physical location and custody. DNB said about 59 tonnes were sold in New York and replaced with gold bought in London, while another 27 tonnes were physically moved as the bank changed its reserve placement. Garlinghouse said most of the value therefore moved without the same gold bars crossing the Atlantic, describing crypto as an “ideal use case” for fast, secure and inexpensive global value transfers. He also compared crypto’s growth from a $1.5 billion asset class in 2013 to around $2.7 trillion now, and cited Germany’s transfer of 674 tonnes of gold from Paris and New York to Frankfurt between 2013 and 2017. DNB said the latest move was intended to increase tradability and crisis preparedness; Governor Olaf Sleijpen said the bank expects never to use the reserves during a crisis but still requires resilience and preparedness. Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao separately said Bitcoin could eventually surpass gold in importance, while acknowledging that gold has mature custody, valuation and reserve systems that could make any transition gradual for large economies.