Musk May Investigate US Gold Reserves: "There May or May Not Be Gold"

Fort Knox, the Highly Secured Gold Reserve
Conspiracy Theories About Gold Resurface

Elon Musk, head of the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and CEO of Tesla, has now hinted at an investigation into the government's gold reserves.

AP Yonhap News

On the 17th (local time), Musk wrote on the social networking service X (formerly Twitter), "Looking for gold at Fort Knox." He stated, "Who verifies that the gold at Fort Knox has not been stolen? The gold may or may not be there. That gold belongs to the American people. I want to know if the gold is still there."

Fort Knox is the name of an Army base located in Kentucky, USA, and the gold reserve operated by the Treasury Department right next to this base is also called by the same name.

Some Republicans are also calling for an investigation into Fort Knox. Senator Rand Paul argued in a Fox News interview that Fort Knox should be audited to ensure transparency. Senator Paul said, "Some people may think there is no need to audit Fort Knox every time, but I believe the more sunlight and transparency, the better." He added, "Gold still has value and, although not explicitly, it still implicitly gives value to the dollar."

The Treasury Department does not allow visitors to Fort Knox for security reasons. Because of this, conspiracy theories often arise in American society claiming that there is no actual gold at Fort Knox or that the gold has been sold.

The U.S. government first opened the facility to congressional delegations and reporters in 1974 after President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited Fort Knox in 1943. The U.S. Mint explained that if rumors persist about gold being moved from the vault, the Treasury Secretary permits visits.

Later, during Donald Trump's first administration in 2017, then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin visited Fort Knox with the Kentucky governor and congressional delegation to verify the gold. According to the U.S. Mint, Fort Knox stores 147.3 million ounces of gold, which is about half of the gold reserves managed by the Treasury Department.

The U.S. government records the book value of this gold at $42.22 per ounce, valuing the gold at Fort Knox at $6.2 billion (approximately 9 trillion KRW). Calculated at the current market price of about $2,900 per ounce, it amounts to approximately $427 billion (about 616 trillion KRW).