4,000 tonnes of gold at Fort Knox audit demanded by US Lawmakers under new legislation

America’s gold holdings at Fort Knox are back in the news, as calls for a complete audit gain traction. Members of Congress have introduced a bill to initiate the first comprehensive audit of America’s gold reserves in decades.

Representative Thomas Massie introduced the Gold Reserve Transparency Act of 2025, which requires the Comptroller General to undertake and publicly release a thorough audit of the United States’ gold holdings. The audit will examine gold held in “deep storage” facilities like Fort Knox, Kentucky.

“Americans deserve transparency and accountability from the institutions that underpin our currency,” Rep. Thomas Massie said in a statement.

In February, President Donald Trump said that his administration would examine the United States’ gold holdings at Fort Knox in Kentucky. The push to examine Fort Knox gold holdings was fueled at that time by Elon Musk’s remarks on X.

Back then, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed that the Treasury conducts an annual audit, ensuring all gold is present and accounted for.

“It’s been literally decades since actual inventories and assays have been conducted to U.S. gold reserves, and the Department of the Treasury has lost records as well as failed to account for many occasions when vault compartments were inexplicably opened and resealed without new audits,” said Stefan Gleason, CEO of Money Metals Depository.

The Treasury Department provides precise U.S. gold reserves information on its website, stating Fort Knox holds 147,341,858.382 troy ounces equal to approximately 4,000 tonnes. Over the years, conspiracy theories have emerged regarding the truthfulness of the government’s claims about the high security of the fort.

The U.S. government should audit its gold reserves and potentially revalue them, as the Treasury Department’s current gold holdings are set at $42 per ounce since 1973. Spot gold is at $3,460, currently trading at near all-time high levels of $3,500 recorded on April 22.

The US is the largest holder, with 8,133 tonnes of gold reserves valued at $682,276 million, as of December 2024.

Gold price has surged by 125% in two years and eight months, with over 50% increase in the last year, and returns of approximately 180% over the last ten years.

The legislation comes at a time when central banks and investors are increasingly diversifying away from the U.S. dollar and Treasuries and into gold.

The Gold Reserve Transparency Act of 2025 requires the Comptroller General, through the Government Accountability Office (GAO), to undertake a full assay, inventory, and audit of all US gold reserves held by the US within one year of the bill’s passage.

To guarantee continuing accountability, the Act mandates audits every five years. These audits include verifying the physical security of gold storage facilities, identifying any encumbrances such as loans, swaps, or leases on gold reserves, documenting all sales, purchases, or transfers of gold reserves over the last 50 years, and accounting for all gold in which the United States has a direct or indirect interest, including gold held by third parties.