Elon Musk's DOGE Targets US Gold Reserves: 'This Gold Is Property Of The American Public!'

Billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been driving massive changes across US federal agencies and institutions in an attempt to trim unnecessary spending and redundant workforce for transparency and enhanced operational throughput.

Musk has been targeting institutions ranging from the USAID to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which led to massive layoffs. The Tesla owner also claimed massive fraud involved in federal entitlements, including programs like Social Security and Medicare.

Musk Pushes To Audit US Gold Reserves

On 15th February, X user "zerohedge" encouraged Musk to check if Fort Knox's gold reserves were intact. "It would be great if @elonmusk could take a look inside Fort Knox just to make sure the 4,580 tons of US gold is there. Last time anyone looked was 50 years ago, in 1974," the user noted.

In response, Musk wrote on X, formerly Twitter, questioning if the reserves are reviewed at least every year, to which Senator Rand Paul replied: "Nope. Let's do it."

When Paul wrote in another X post that he was repeatedly denied access to Fort Knox, Musk raised several questions yesterday, like what is the guarantee that gold wasn't stolen from there.

"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," Musk added.

Soon after, Musk posted about "Looking for the gold at Fort Knox" with a South Park meme saying, "Annnnd it's gone." He hopes it's all there and even suggested that it "would be cool to do a live video walkthrough of Fort Knox!"

US Government Periodically Releases Gold Reserve Reports

The federal government details its reserves of gold bullion and coins held at all repositories. These monthly reports state whether the gold is safeguarded in deep storage or available to the US Mint for minting congressionally authorised coins.

The reports also include the weight of the gold reserves in troy ounces and book value in dollars. Note that the book value is calculated by multiplying the troy ounces by $42.222 and not the market value as per a law established in 1973.

A Glimpse of US Treasury's Latest Gold Reserve Report

The latest update on US gold reserves, dated 31st January, noted that Fort Knox held over 147 million troy ounces of gold bullion in deep storage, with a book value of more than £4.91 billion ($6.2 billion).

Over 52 million troy ounces of gold bullion were stored in deep storage at the West Point Mint in New York. The book value was north of £1.74 billion ($2.2 billion).

The Denver Mint, Colorado depository held 43.8 million troy ounces of gold bullion in deep storage, with a book value of over £1.42 billion ($1.8 billion).

Meanwhile, more than 2.7 million troy ounces with a book value of £93.13 million ($117.5 million) was held across all treasury facilities as working stock for the US Mint to create gold coins.

The Treasury report also listed two line items for gold held by the US Federal Reserve at its New York vault. One item listed over 13.3 million troy ounces with a book value of £447.67 million ($564.8 million), while the other listed over 73,400 troy ounces with a book value of about £2.45 million ($3.1 million).