Venezuela's Bank of England gold: six-member panel formed

Venezuela’s government and the opposition-led 2015 National Assembly have agreed to form a six-member joint delegation to press Britain for the Venezuelan gold held at the Bank of England. They announced it on Wednesday, October 21, 2026 in Caracas, at the close of the third round of their U.S.-backed talks, in a statement signed by Jorge Rodríguez, head of the government delegation and speaker of the National Assembly, and Dinorah Figuera, for the 2015 Assembly. The gold — about 31 metric tons of Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) reserves, frozen in London since 2019 — is worth roughly $3.98 billion at today’s price. Both sides say the money would go to victims of June’s twin earthquakes and to public services.

What is known

• What the statement says: the two sides agreed to “reiterate to the competent institutions of the United Kingdom the need and urgency of recovering Venezuela’s international reserve assets deposited at the Bank of England (Venezuelan gold)” and to “form a joint delegation” to pursue the talks’ actions before those institutions (in Spanish), according to the text Rodríguez released, as published by the state news agency AVN.
• Who is on it: three delegates from the interim government and three from the 2015 Assembly. “We appointed a mixed commission — with three delegates from the 2015 National Assembly and three from the interim government — to speed up the steps that would allow the final release of those gold resources,” Figuera said (in Spanish), according to Globovisión. The members’ names have not been released.
• What the money is for: the statement follows up on an August 12 agreement from the first round on funds “to meet the needs of the population affected by the twin earthquake and to restore public services” (in Spanish, per AVN). Figuera said it would bring immediate social and housing help to vulnerable groups.
• Acting president Delcy Rodríguez received both delegations at the Miraflores palace after the round closed and singled out the gold agreement as one of its results, saying the gold should go to recovery from the June earthquake, according to Últimas Noticias.
• Washington’s view: the State Department welcomed the end of the round on October 22. Its statement says that since the talks began, the process “produced an agreement to recover gold holdings in the Bank of England for earthquake relief.”
• Next: the fourth round is scheduled for November 11–15, according to Europa Press.

How much gold, and what it’s worth

• About 31 metric tons, the most widely cited figure, which comes from a September Financial Times report relayed by TheStreet and others. No official breakdown of what sits in London has been published. Venezuelan state daily DiarioVea puts it at 32 tons worth more than $1.6 billion.
• At today’s price ($3,996.90 an ounce at 16:05 UTC on October 24, 2026, per gold-api.com): about $3.98 billion for 31 tons and about $4.11 billion for 32. That’s our calculation, at 32,150.7 troy ounces per metric ton.
• Figuera noted the gold is now worth twice as much, without saying compared with when (Europa Press). When the case reached the U.K. Supreme Court in 2021, it was valued at about $1.95 billion, according to TheStreet.
• It isn’t new gold: those tons are already counted in the 47.01 tons the BCV reports as reserves. Getting them back wouldn’t give Venezuela more gold; it would let the country use it. Details in Venezuela gold reserves.

What is not known

• Whether Britain will release it, and when. The deal is between Venezuelans; the decision sits in London. In September the Bank of England told Reuters it “is not in a position to act until there is a further order from the UK Court on who has legal authority over the account,” and the Foreign Office said the British government is “not a party in the legal case,” as reported by TheStreet. The Rio Times found no response to the new agreement from the British government or the Bank as of October 22, and we found none as of October 24.
• Who the six delegates are, and when and with whom they will meet in Britain.
• Where the gold would go. In September the Financial Times reported talks on moving it to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York: Delcy Rodríguez’s government would get legal control but couldn’t sell it right away, though it could pledge it as loan collateral. The October 21 statement doesn’t mention New York.
• How the spending would be controlled, and how much would reach earthquake victims.

Why it matters

The London gold is close to two-thirds of the gold in Venezuela’s reserves. It has been frozen since Britain recognized Juan Guaidó in February 2019 and two rival central bank boards began sending the Bank of England conflicting instructions, according to TheStreet. Now the government and the 2015 Assembly are asking for it together, through one joint delegation, and the statement ties it to a specific use: earthquake recovery and public services.

For the U.S., the open question is the New York Fed. Under the terms the Financial Times described, the gold would be held there and could be pledged as collateral for Venezuela’s reconstruction borrowing — but nothing in this week’s statement confirms that plan. The agreement also comes as London warms to Caracas: on September 15, Britain announced it was upgrading diplomatic relations with Venezuela, Reuters reported. Neither the Bank of England nor the British government has said it will change its position.

Today’s gold price by karat: gold price per gram. How Americans buy gold, and what each option costs: how to invest in gold. Where Venezuela’s gold is mined and who mines it: Venezuela gold, and the rest of its minerals in Venezuela Minerals: List, Locations and the Most Valuable.