Besides the reasons listed by the others, this also a matter of relationships as there a deep ties between these nations and the Netherlands. Without the Dutch financing the Americans, America would not have been able to become independent from the English. The Dutch were also the first country on earth to acknowledge America's independence [1][2], costing them a war with the pissed England [3].<p>There are a lot of Dutch people living in Canada.[4]<p><pre><code> _____</code></pre>
1. <<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_de_Graaff" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_de_Graaff</a>><p>2. <<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_Salute" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_Salute</a>><p>3. <<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Anglo-Dutch_War" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Anglo-Dutch_War</a>><p>4. <<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Canadians" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Canadians</a>>
Makes trade easier than shifting currency. It’s also more stable and liquid if you need to make things happen in an emergency.
Makes it harder to steal.<p>Don't forget that the European continent has had wars almost non-stop for centuries. It is a good strategy to place your gold in a location that has not seen much action in the past 250 years.
> I'm curious the reason why it was ever held in the US and Canada<p>Random Educated Guess; Probably part of some show of mutual trust to cement a treaty or other agreement, made way back when allied governments could mostly trust one another to hold to such agreements somewhat reliably?
(another guess) to convert to dollars, the gold would need to be delivered to the custody of the US Fed, which is easiest when the bars are physically in the Fed's vault. in a low-trust situation, you have all the gold in your own country, but then its so much leas liquid bc you need to physically deliver it to trading partners, or they must trust your accounting of their share in your vault.
I would assume WWII and the Cold War?
Could be due to the fact that before 1970s the currency was backed by Gold and they had it in US to easily convert it to USD if needed
It was originally payments owed to Dutch interests in America being converted to gold and stored locally on their behalf, as opposed to having to be transported across the Atlantic back to the Netherlands.<p>Then later the Dutch moved a lot more of their gold over there before/during WWII in order to keep it out of reach of the Nazis.