Federal Reserve Holds $1.62 Trillion in U.S. Treasury Bonds Exceeding 10 Years

The Federal Reserve's holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds with maturities exceeding 10 years have been reported at $1.622 trillion (approximately 2,247 trillion won). This raises the issue of how to interpret the structure of U.S. long-term Treasury holdings in relation to yield signals and financing costs.

According to the Fed's H.4.1 statistics, as of August 19, 2026, the total amount of U.S. Treasury bonds held was $4.53873 trillion (approximately 6,285 trillion won). Of this, short-term securities accounted for $534.115 billion, nominal medium- to long-term bonds for $3.62185 trillion, and inflation-linked bonds for $276.076 billion.

The contentious point is the claim that the Fed holds more than half of the Treasury bonds with maturities of 10 to 15 years. The publicly available statistics show that the relevant range is not 10 to 15 years, but rather over 10 years. While it is confirmed that the holdings exceeding 10 years are substantial, it is difficult to directly interpret this as the market share for the 10 to 15-year range.

The St. Louis Fed's FRED TREAS10Y series also presents $1.622 trillion as of the same date. This series is linked to the Fed's H.4.1 data on Treasury bonds with maturities exceeding 10 years. Therefore, it is correct to limit the figures confirmed in the article to the holdings exceeding 10 years.

The Fed announced the end of asset reduction on October 29, 2025, and has been reinvesting the principal of the Treasury bonds it holds since December 1, 2025. Since June 2022, the securities holdings have decreased by over $2.2 trillion (approximately 3,047 trillion won), but in a structure where the principal repayments of Treasury bonds are reinvested, it is difficult for long-term holdings to decrease sharply in a short period.

The U.S. Treasury, in its data from August 3, 2026, indicated that the net marketable borrowing for the private sector from July to September 2026 would be $739 billion (approximately 1,024 trillion won), and borrowing from October to December would be $628 billion (approximately 870 trillion won). The same data explained that since buybacks are replaced by new issuances, there would be no significant change in the net borrowing scale.

A Treasury buyback is a measure where the Treasury repurchases existing Treasury bonds from the market. It is typically used to bolster liquidity in specific maturity ranges and stabilize market functions. However, if the Treasury funds the buyback with new issuances, it is distinct from the effect of reducing the overall net borrowing scale.

The U.S. Treasury describes the Treasury bond market as the benchmark for risk-free yield curves and the deepest and most liquid market in the world. The average daily trading volume is reported to be around $900 billion (approximately 1,247 trillion won). If the price signals for long-term bonds fluctuate, it can also affect the benchmarks in interest-linked markets such as corporate bonds, mortgages, and swaps.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) stated that as of September 2025, the Fed was the largest single holder of U.S. Treasury bonds, holding approximately $3.8 trillion (approximately 5,263 trillion won), which accounts for about 14% of total holdings. The GAO explained that the Fed purchased over $2 trillion (approximately 2,770 trillion won) in Treasury bonds to support the functioning of the Treasury market following the COVID-19 shock in 2020.

From a temporal perspective, the current debate over the concentration of long-term bonds is a result of the large-scale asset purchases and the end of asset reduction following the pandemic. Unless the Fed quickly sells off the securities it holds in the market, the maturity structure will only change gradually. This is why the proportion of long-term bonds continues to be discussed in the context of market supply and demand interpretations.

Recently, the pressure on the supply and demand for long-term bonds has been reflected in market prices. The U.S. Treasury announced on August 19, 2026, that it would increase the liquidity support buyback size for nominal Treasury bonds maturing in 10-20 years and 20-30 years from $2 billion (approximately 27.7 billion won) per buyback to at least $4 billion (approximately 55.4 billion won). Reuters reported that long-term Treasury yields fell following this announcement.

Long-term Treasury yields indicate the government's borrowing costs while also functioning as the discount rate in private financial markets. When yields rise, the government's interest burden increases, and the long-term financing costs for businesses and households may also rise. Conversely, if liquidity support measures stabilize price fluctuations, the benchmarks in interest-linked markets can remain relatively stable.

For domestic investors, this issue is closer to background variables affecting dollar liquidity and the discount rates of risk assets than to cryptocurrency price forecasts. Assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ripple (XRP) are influenced by the dollar interest rate environment, but this data alone cannot determine the price direction of specific assets. Previous analyses have pointed out the connections between U.S. Treasury yields and the interpretation of risk assets.

However, it cannot be definitively concluded that the Fed's holding structure and the volume of Treasury issuances are the sole causes of market distortions. Long-term interest rates reflect a combination of fiscal deficits, inflation expectations, foreign investor demand, and trust in central bank policies. The selling pressure on U.S. Treasury bonds centered on long-term maturities has also been interpreted in the context of inflation targets and trust in the Fed.

Three confirmed facts are as follows: the Fed's holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds with maturities exceeding 10 years are $1.622 trillion as of August 19, 2026; the U.S. Treasury has projected net marketable borrowing of $739 billion for July to September; and the size of the long-term nominal Treasury buyback has been expanded to a minimum of $4 billion per buyback.

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