Elon Musk raised concerns about whether Fort Knox is still holding $425 billion worth of gold. The posts reignited an old conspiracy theory about gone gold and sparked discussion about the advantages of Bitcoin. Donald Trump said he will audit “the fabled Fort Knox.”
As a head of the Department of Government Efficiency Musk has been busy scrutinizing the government institutions lately. Fort Knox was another target for his daring eyes as Musk published an X post saying that “it would be cool to do a live video walkthrough of Fort Knox.”
Sen. Mike Lee fueled the discussion when he replied to Musk that despite being a senator, he was denied access to Fort Knox on multiple occasions without a proper cause. Musk replied that the American public was the true owner of gold stored in Fort Knox and asked if someone could confirm the gold was there.
The discussion continued with many expressing support for the idea of a public audit of the biggest gold reserve in the U.S. The Fort Knox reserve holds 147 troy ounces of gold, more than any other storage in the country.
Missing Fort Knox gold is an old conspiracy theory, infused by the extremely low level of the reserve’s transparency. It is hard to enter this storage even by the military base standards.
The inability to make sure gold is present in the depository raises questions about accountability and transparency standards revision.
Does Fort Knox undergo regular audits?
Regular audits take place. The U.S. government issues monthly reports that specify the amount of gold stored in every storage. The proponents of the missing gold theory don’t buy these reports and want to get evidence. However, the restrictive policies that don’t allow visitors to Fort Knox only make people more suspicious.
Probably, you saw a striking statement that Fort Knox hasn’t been audited for 50 years. That’s not far from the truth.
Indeed, the last public audit of Fort Knox took place on Sept. 24, 1974, when several congressmen and journalists were allowed in the depository. They entered the storage, inspected the gold, and took photos. The previous tone when Fort Knox had such an audit took place in 1943.
The press release dedicated to the 1974 visitation proclaimed that the event marked a change in the long-standing no-visitors policy. According to it, the Congressional inspection adhered to President Ford’s new policy of open doors. However, as we know today, the Fort Knox doors were closed shortly after the visit for the next 40+ years.
During the previous Donald Trump presidency, in 2017, then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin managed to obtain permission to visit the bullion depository accompanied by Kentucky elected officials. Unlike the 1974 inspection, this event was pretty private, with no media present.
Mnuchin received backlash for the inappropriate use of military aircraft to travel to Fort Knox, spending an additional $9k of the taxpayers’ money.
The fact that the visitation took place on the very day of the total solar eclipse, which Mnuchin observed from the roof of Fort Knox, which is situated close to the Path of Totality, one of the best points to look at the eclipse, raised additional criticism. The photos of him and his peers in front of golden bricks were published in 2018. This tour to Fort Knox hardly adheres to the criteria for audit.
The is no evidence that any portion of the Fort Knox gold is missing. However, the lack of transparency and clear accountability set a good climate for speculations and alternative solutions.
Bitcoin enters the discussion
Gold is often compared to Bitcoin, especially now, when national gold reserves are not such a hot topic as Bitcoin reserves. No wonder the inability to verify the consistency of the gold reserves draws discussions in the crypto community.
Whether Fort Knox gold is safe or not, Bitcoin is an asset that would not have raised any of these concerns, Bitcoin proponents say.
More and more experts claim Bitcoin is better than gold. In light of the Fort Knox case, Bitcoin showcases higher transparency and ease of user and transportation. It’s much easier to cross the border with $5 million worth of Bitcoin than gold or cash. More than that, the ownership of Bitcoin is verifiable by any person with a device connected to the Internet. The Fort Knox situation reminds us that we don’t have such a possibility with gold.
More than that, more traditional assets like Bitcoin ETFs or ETPs are as transparent as Bitcoin. Bradley Duke of Bitwise took to X to remind everyone why Bitcoin is much more trustworthy than gold. He said why trust when you can verify?
Bernstein analytics say the U.S. will need gold to buy Bitcoin
One of the reasons why Bitcoin maxis may be concerned by the possible lack of gold in the bullion depository is that at some point, the American government will start selling gold to acquire more Bitcoin.
According to Gautam Chhugani, an analyst from Bernstein, if a Strategic Bitcoin reserve is established, the Federal Reserve will have to search for funds to purchase Bitcoin. It may issue debt (which is opposite to the proclaimed goal of setting the Strategic Bitcoin reserve) or sell some of the gold reserves.
Musk’s concerns didn’t go unnoticed by the POTUS. On Feb. 20, Musk posted a clip with Trump saying they are going to inspect “the fabled Fort Knox to make sure the gold is there.” “If the gold isn’t there, we’re gonna be very upset,” Trump added, smiling.
