What if the Gold is Gone?

by Kerry Lutz
FinancialSurvivalNetwork.com

The Fort Knox Audit: Trump, Musk, and the Quest for America’s Gold

For decades, the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox has stood as an emblem of financial security, a fortress safeguarding a significant portion of the nation’s gold reserves. Housing approximately 147.3 million troy ounces of gold—valued at over $435 billion at today’s market prices—it represents nearly 59% of the U.S. Treasury’s total gold holdings. The remainder is stored at other secure facilities: about 34% at the Denver Mint in Colorado, 5% at the West Point Mint in New York, and a small fraction held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Together, these sites account for the U.S.’s 8,133 metric tons of gold, the largest national reserve in the world. Yet, beneath Fort Knox’s impenetrable granite walls and steel vaults lies a lingering question: Is the gold really there? This question, long championed by libertarian voices like Senators Rand Paul and his father, former Representative Ron Paul, is finally poised to be answered. Under the leadership of President Donald Trump and tech titan Elon Musk, an unprecedented audit of Fort Knox is on the horizon, set to begin in 2025. As anticipation builds, the stakes couldn’t be higher—not just for the United States, but for the global financial system. What happens if the gold is gone? And what does this mean for the dollar and the fiat currency system? Here, we explore the history, the implications, and the likelihood that the gold remains—or that no one will dare admit otherwise.

A Decades-Long Crusade

The push to audit Fort Knox is not new. It traces its roots back to the skepticism of Ron Paul, a former Texas congressman and staunch advocate for transparency in monetary policy. During his tenure, Ron Paul repeatedly called for a full audit of the nation’s gold reserves, arguing that the American public deserved to know whether the government’s claims matched reality. In 2011, he led a congressional hearing on the matter, noting that no member of Congress had been allowed to view the gold at Fort Knox in nearly 40 years. “The government has for so long refused to provide substantive information on its gold holdings,” he said, “it is not surprising that so much confusion abounds.” His efforts, including the introduction of the “Gold Reserve Transparency Act,” aimed to force a reckoning, but they were met with resistance from a financial establishment comfortable with opacity.

Ron Paul’s mantle was later taken up by his son, Rand Paul, the junior senator from Kentucky—home to Fort Knox itself. Rand Paul has echoed his father’s concerns, emphasizing the need for “more sunlight” on the nation’s reserves. For over a decade, he has sought permission to visit the depository, only to face bureaucratic hurdles. In 2017, during Trump’s first term, then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell toured the vaults, reporting that the gold was present. Yet, Rand Paul’s own visit never materialized, leaving him—and many others—unsatisfied. “I think the more transparency, the better,” he told Fox News in February 2025, as momentum for an audit grew. “It brings attention to the fact that gold still has value and implicitly gives value to the dollar.”

Now, with Donald Trump back in the White House and Elon Musk at the helm of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Pauls’ decades-long crusade is finally bearing fruit. Musk, known for his disruptive approach to everything from transportation to social media, has seized on the issue with characteristic zeal. “Who is confirming that gold wasn’t stolen from Fort Knox?” he posted on X in February 2025. “Maybe it’s there, maybe it’s not. That gold is owned by the American public! We want to know if it’s still there.” Trump, meanwhile, has thrown his weight behind the effort, telling reporters aboard Air Force One, “We’re going to go into Fort Knox to make sure the gold is there. If it isn’t, we’re going to be very upset.” After years of stalled efforts, the audit is set to commence, promising to lift the veil on one of America’s most secretive institutions.

The Historical Context: Why the Doubt?

Fort Knox’s mystique is matched only by the skepticism surrounding it—a skepticism immortalized in popular culture by the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger. In the movie, the villainous Auric Goldfinger hatches a plan to detonate a dirty bomb inside the depository, rendering the U.S. gold supply radioactive and boosting the value of his own reserves. While Bond thwarts the scheme with characteristic flair, the film cemented Fort Knox in the public imagination as both an impregnable fortress and a tantalizing target. Built in 1936 amid fears of an East Coast attack, the real depository was designed to centralize and protect much of the nation’s gold reserves after President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1933 executive order banned private gold ownership. By the 1950s, it held over 20,000 metric tons of gold, a figure that has since dwindled to 8,133 tons across Fort Knox, Denver, West Point, and New York. The last comprehensive audit of Fort Knox occurred in 1953, with partial reviews in 1974—prompted by looting rumors—and 2017, when Mnuchin’s visit quelled some doubts but left others unresolved.

This scarcity of inspections has fueled conspiracy theories far beyond Hollywood fiction. Some speculate that the gold was sold off or swapped with foreign governments, while others suggest it’s been replaced with gold-plated tungsten—not just at Fort Knox, but potentially across the other repositories as well. The lack of regular, transparent audits—contrasted with the Treasury’s claim of annual internal reviews—has only deepened the mistrust. Rand Paul has pointed out that even these internal audits provide “the bare minimum of information,” leaving room for doubt. Musk’s call for a “live video walkthrough” reflects a public hunger for definitive proof, a sentiment Trump has amplified with his flair for dramatic pronouncements.

What If the Gold Is Gone?

The implications of a Fort Knox audit revealing missing gold are staggering—more explosive than any plot Goldfinger could devise. The U.S. dollar, though no longer directly tied to the gold standard since 1971, retains an implicit link to the metal. Central banks worldwide hold gold as a hedge against currency volatility, and the U.S.’s 8,133 tons—more than twice Germany’s reserves—bolster confidence in the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. If the gold at Fort Knox, valued at $435 billion on the open market (though listed at a mere $6 billion on government books at $42.22 per ounce), were found to be absent, the fallout would be immediate and profound, with ripple effects potentially reaching Denver, West Point, and New York.

First, trust in the U.S. government would collapse. The dollar’s credibility, already strained by a national debt exceeding $35 trillion and persistent inflation, would plummet. Foreign governments and investors, holding trillions in U.S. dollar-denominated assets, might dump them en masse, fearing a devalued currency. This could trigger a sell-off in global markets, driving up inflation as the dollar weakens. Countries like China and Russia, already pushing for de-dollarization, might accelerate efforts to replace the dollar with alternatives like gold or cryptocurrencies, further eroding its dominance.

Second, the global fiat currency system—built on trust rather than tangible backing—could face an existential crisis. Gold’s enduring value lies in its scarcity and stability; if the U.S., the world’s largest gold holder, can’t account for its reserves across its key facilities, faith in all fiat currencies could falter. Investors might flock to safe-haven assets like Bitcoin, which some, including Musk, have dubbed “digital gold.” Posts on X have speculated that a gold shortfall could “trigger a global confidence collapse in the dollar overnight,” sending Bitcoin prices soaring as demand for decentralized alternatives spikes.

Third, the economic ramifications would be seismic. A revaluation of U.S. gold reserves to market prices—potentially adding $429 billion to the Treasury’s balance sheet—could offset some losses, but only if the gold is there in Fort Knox, Denver, West Point, and New York. Without it, the government might resort to printing more money, exacerbating inflation and pushing interest rates higher. Economist Lou Crandall has warned that such a scenario could disrupt the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy, acting as an unintended form of quantitative easing. The ripple effects would hit everything from stock markets to commodity prices, with gold itself likely surging as a hedge against uncertainty.

Is the Gold Really There?

Despite these dire possibilities, I believe the gold is likely still at Fort Knox—or, at the very least, no one will be willing to admit it isn’t. Several factors support this view. For one, the logistical challenge of removing 4,580 tons of gold undetected from Fort Knox—or significant amounts from Denver, West Point, or New York—is immense, far more daunting than Goldfinger’s fictional heist. Fort Knox’s security—16,000 cubic feet of granite, 4,200 cubic yards of concrete, and multiple layers of vaults—makes it one of the most fortified structures on Earth, and the other facilities are similarly well-protected. Only small samples have been removed for purity testing, and the U.S. Mint insists no significant transfers have occurred in decades.

Moreover, the political and economic consequences of admitting a shortfall are so catastrophic that the government has every incentive to maintain the status quo. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, appointed by Trump, has stated, “We do an audit every year. All the gold is present and accounted for.” While skeptics question the depth of these internal audits across all sites, Bessent’s openness to external inspections suggests confidence in the reserves. The 1974 and 2017 visits to Fort Knox, though limited, also reported no discrepancies, reinforcing the narrative that the gold remains intact.

Finally, the audit itself may be structured to avoid a definitive reckoning. Musk’s proposed livestream could showcase stacks of gleaming bullion at Fort Knox, but verifying every ounce—down to the last troy—across all four locations would take months, if not years. The government could present a convincing facade, sidestepping the deeper questions Ron and Rand Paul have raised about ownership and rehypothecation (where gold is pledged multiple times). Even if discrepancies exist, they might be buried in bureaucratic obfuscation, preserving the illusion of stability.

A New Era—or a Mirage?

As the Fort Knox audit looms, the world watches with bated breath. Trump and Musk, an unlikely duo of political and entrepreneurial force, have turned a fringe libertarian cause into a national spectacle. For Rand and Ron Paul, it’s a vindication of their long fight for transparency. Yet, the outcome remains uncertain. If the gold is there—across Fort Knox, Denver, West Point, and New York—it could bolster the dollar’s standing and silence the skeptics, at least temporarily. If it isn’t, the fallout could reshape global finance, challenging the fiat system’s foundations, much like the chaos Goldfinger sought to unleash.

In my view, the gold is likely present, or the truth will be too inconvenient to reveal. The U.S. has too much riding on its reputation as a financial superpower to let Fort Knox—or its sister repositories—become symbols of failure. Whether through meticulous preservation or masterful spin, the audit will probably affirm the status quo. But the questions raised by this moment—about trust, value, and the future of money—will linger long after the vaults are resealed. For now, Fort Knox remains a fortress of secrets, and its reckoning, decades in the making, is finally at hand.

Regards,
Kerry Lutz

Source: https://www.financialsurvivalnetwork.com/2025/02/what-if-the-gold-is-gone/