Update (March 24, 7:30 am UTC): This article has been updated to include that the US Treasury provides a monthly report detailing the weight and book value of gold reserves at Fort Knox.
The cryptocurrency community is rallying around a renewed push for an audit of the United States’ gold reserves stored at Fort Knox, as Senator Rand Paul calls on Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to investigate.
The Kentucky senator on Feb. 16 invited DOGE to conduct a gold reserve audit of Fort Knox to ensure it actually stores 147.3 million ounces (4,600 tons) of US Treasury Department gold.
In the traditional sense, an audit typically involves an independent, detailed examination of records and physical assets to verify accuracy and compliance— which would involve third-party accountants or inspectors cracking open vaults, counting bars, and cross-checking serial numbers.
However, the US Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service releases a monthly report detailing the weight and book value of gold reserves held across various Treasury-maintained locations, like Fort Knox, West Point, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Paul’s call to audit Fort Knox reserves came in response to Musk addressing a query from the libertarian financial blog ZeroHedge, which highlighted that the reserves have been unchecked for 50 years since 1974.
Source: Rand Paul
Subject to many conspiracy theories, the question of Fort Knox gold reserves makes a good use case for Bitcoin (BTC), with many BTC advocates — including Senator Cynthia Lummis — saying, “Bitcoin fixes this.”
Bitcoin reserves can be freely audited 24/7
Wyoming Senator Lummis took to X on Feb. 16 to reiterate her call to establish a state Bitcoin reserve in the US:
“Bitcoin fixes this. A Bitcoin reserve could be audited any time, 24/7, with a basic computer.”
Unlike physical gold, which requires external audits, Bitcoin allows anyone to verify ownership, supply and transactions on the blockchain without the need for intermediaries.
“With gold, you have to trust the auditor. With Bitcoin, anyone can be the auditor,” Riot Platforms’ research head, Pierre Rochard, said.
Bitcoin cannot be faked, unlike gold
Despite its historical status as a universal store of value, gold has faced issues with counterfeiting. While the US holds the largest gold reserves globally, concerns over fake gold bars have emerged in recent years.
The US is the largest holder of gold internationally. Source: TradingEconomics
With gold prices constantly rising, cases of fake gold have not been uncommon. In 2019, the CEO of Swiss metals refinery Valcambi acknowledged that gold forgeries were increasingly sophisticated, suggesting that thousands of fake gold bars may have gone undetected.
Related: Bitcoin’s role as a reserve asset gains traction in US as states adopt
In contrast, Bitcoin cannot be faked or diluted. Only 21 million BTC will ever exist, with each satoshi — the smallest unit of Bitcoin — being trackable onchain.
Source: Spence Rogers
“You can’t counterfeit Bitcoin. It’s the only perfect hard-money medium of exchange humanity has ever encountered. To own some — is to declare freedom from tyranny and governments while declaring sovereignty-of-self,” Bitcoin advocate Max Kaiser wrote in 2018.
Magazine: Cathie Wood stands by $1.5M BTC price, CZ’s dog, and more: Hodler’s Digest Feb. 9 – 15