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Gold’s extraordinary New Year 2026 price spike has triggered a wave of infrastructure building across the global bullion market. New vaults, clearing systems, tokenized products, and round-the-clock trading initiatives are now being advanced at speed, with Hong Kong and Singapore leading the charge in Asia.
The moves are being widely described as a challenge to London’s centuries-old dominance in global gold trading, much as Shanghai’s gold-market reforms were framed a decade ago. But the reality is more complicated. Despite Asia’s growing importance as the center of physical gold demand, London remains the world’s core bullion hub. So far in 2026, the UK capital has seen around nine times the volume of gold trade recorded in mainland China’s domestic hub. That gap matters. The gold market may be increasingly shaped by Asian demand, but it is still priced, cleared, vaulted, and traded at scale through London.
Gold’s all-time high near $5,600 per troy ounce in late January came during a period of frantic trading in both gold and silver. The spike reflected a powerful mix of inflation concerns, geopolitical risk, financial market volatility, and renewed investor appetite for hard assets.
Prices have since retreated sharply. Spot gold recently traded near $4,111.95 per ounce, its lowest level since March 23 and roughly 27% below the peak. The January record still stands about 29% above current gold prices, while silver’s peak remains about 73% above today’s levels.
Trading volumes in bullion, exchange-traded funds, and derivatives have also eased from the January-February surge. Even so, the average daily value traded so far in 2026 remains well above 2025’s record levels. The message from the market is clear: the spike may have passed, but gold’s structural importance has not faded. Instead, it has encouraged governments, banks, and exchanges to invest in the market’s plumbing.
Singapore has made the most coordinated push. Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, who also chairs the Monetary Authority of Singapore, announced that the city-state will establish an over-the-counter gold clearing system for “Loco Singapore” gold bullion stored in Singapore by the end of 2026. The Singapore Exchange will operate the clearing system, with six major banks signed on as clearing members: DBS, OCBC, UOB, ICBC Standard Bank, J.P. Morgan, and Deutsche Bank.
The initiative is designed to make Singapore “a trusted hub within the global gold ecosystem,” Gan said, linking regional demand with global liquidity and supporting activity during Asian trading hours. Singapore is also adding official-sector support. The Monetary Authority of Singapore plans to introduce central bank gold-vaulting services by October, giving foreign central banks and sovereign entities a secure location to store reserves. The government will also remove a 5% cap on physical investment in precious metals under tax-incentive schemes for eligible funds and family offices.
Together, these measures aim to move Singapore beyond being simply a wealth-management and logistics center. The ambition is to create a deeper bullion ecosystem: vaulting, clearing, trading, custody, and investment products all in one jurisdiction.
Singapore’s biggest bank, DBS, is also pushing gold into the digital era. The bank said it will offer tokenized physical gold to retail customers through its digibank app in the second half of 2026.
Each DBS Physical Gold Token will be backed by one gram of physical gold stored in a dedicated DBS vault in Singapore. Customers will be able to buy small quantities, trade around the clock, and redeem tokens for physical bullion. DBS said the product will be the first in Singapore to allow retail customers to digitally access, hold, and trade tokenized physical gold through a single platform. The bank is also exploring listing the token on the DBS Digital Exchange for accredited investors and institutional partners.
The launch reflects a broader change in investor behavior. DBS said physical gold holdings among its wealth clients have more than doubled over the past three years. Tokenization allows banks to fractionalize access to bullion, lowering the entry barrier while keeping the asset linked to physical metal.
Hong Kong is moving aggressively as well. Authorities there recently announced plans to offer a 50% tax concession to some commodity traders, while expanding secure logistics and storage infrastructure. They also confirmed plans to launch a Hong Kong clearing system for wholesale gold bullion trading.
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing has also been exploring a relaunch of gold futures as the city seeks to strengthen its role as an international gold trading and storage hub. Standard Chartered, a London bullion-market-making member, has told Caixin that it is assessing whether to build and operate a bullion vault in Hong Kong. If completed, it would mark the bank’s first major move into the physical bullion market infrastructure.
The Hong Kong push is often described as an attempt to serve as a gateway to China’s huge gold demand. But the more important question is whether Hong Kong can become a gateway in both directions, not only bringing metal into Greater China but also helping connect Asian bullion holdings to global liquidity.
A decade ago, the launch of Shanghai’s international gold market in the city’s free-trade zone was also described as a potential challenge to London. China was, and remains, the world’s largest gold producer, importer, and consumer. On paper, that gives it enormous weight.
But China’s gold market has not displaced London because it remains structurally different. China’s domestic gold demand is huge, and its mining output leads the world. It also has several London-accredited refineries. Yet Chinese bullion exports are effectively restricted because Beijing treats gold as a strategic metal. As a result, China’s gold market can absorb metal from the world, but it does not freely send metal back into the world. That makes arbitrage one-sided. When Shanghai prices rise above London prices, traders can bring gold into China. But when Shanghai trades at a discount, metal cannot freely flow out to close the gap.
Capital controls add another barrier. Global investors cannot move money and bullion in and out of China as freely as they can in London. That limits Shanghai’s role in international price formation. China’s market has therefore remained more of a price taker than a price maker. It reflects domestic demand, but it does not yet provide the open, two-way liquidity that defines a global bullion hub.
London’s dominance is not based on domestic gold demand. The UK has little demand for gold jewelry compared with Asia, minimal private investment demand by Asian standards, no meaningful gold mine output, and no current market-accredited large-bar refineries.
Yet London remains the center of global bullion flows because it offers what the international market needs: deep liquidity, open capital movement, trusted vaulting, established legal infrastructure, and a long-standing clearing network. Since 2004, the UK has imported more than 6,800 tonnes of gold and exported nearly 5,000 tonnes, according to official trade data. That is extraordinary for a country with little mine supply or end-user consumption. It reflects London’s role as the central hub for vaulting and trading in wholesale bullion.
The relationship between London vault flows and prices is also significant. When gold accumulates in London vaults, prices have tended to rise. When London vault holdings shrink, prices have tended to fall. BullionVault analysis found that in months when dollar gold prices rose, net demand for London-vaulted gold averaged 38 tonnes. In months when prices fell, London vaults lost an average of 16 tonnes. In other words, London’s vaults are not just storage facilities. They are a visible expression of global investment flows.
The move toward more Asian infrastructure is also part of a broader push to make gold trading less dependent on traditional Western market hours. The CME Group said it plans to launch 24/7 trading for its 1-ounce gold futures contract at the end of July, subject to regulatory approval. It also wants to introduce nonstop trading in crude oil futures, although regulators may be wary of increased volatility during geopolitical crises.
The London Bullion Market Association is adjusting too. Ruth Crowell, the LBMA’s chief executive, said London may shift its morning gold auction earlier than 10:30 a.m. to accommodate Asian participants. These changes recognize a simple fact: Asia is no longer just the center of physical demand. It is becoming increasingly important to price discovery, liquidity, and risk management.
The United States is seeing its own debate over bullion-market concentration. A bipartisan group of lawmakers is pushing the SILVER Act, which would require the CME to approve bullion warehouses across the United States to hold metal eligible or registered for delivery against Comex gold and silver contracts. At present, approved storage is concentrated around New York. Expanding eligible warehouse locations would decentralize physical-market infrastructure and potentially make the US delivery system more resilient.
The proposal fits the broader global pattern: after the 2026 price shock, market participants want more storage, more clearing options, and more flexibility.
Asia’s gold-market buildout is real. Singapore and Hong Kong are adding vaults, clearing systems, tax incentives, digital products, and trading infrastructure. The CME is extending 24/7 access to gold futures. The LBMA is considering changes to accommodate Asian hours. Banks are again investing in physical bullion capabilities.
But challenging London is not the same as replacing it. London’s strength lies in open, two-way global flows. Metal and capital can enter and leave freely. Investors can store large quantities securely and trade them with minimal friction. That openness is why London remains central to global price formation despite having little domestic gold demand of its own.
For Asian hubs to rival London, they must do more than serve regional buyers. They must become places where global investors are willing to hold bullion, trade it, finance it, lend it, borrow against it, and move it freely in and out. Singapore is perhaps closest to building that model in Asia. Hong Kong has the advantage of proximity to China, but that also means China’s still-controlled gold system will shape its role. Shanghai’s experience shows that massive demand alone does not create a global benchmark. The 2026 gold spike has accelerated a race to build the next generation of bullion-market infrastructure. Asia is gaining ground quickly. But for now, London remains the market’s central vault, trading room, and price-setting engine.
