The United States Currently Owns $1.32 Trillion in Gold

As of the last update from the government, the United States owns roughly 261,500,000 ounces of gold, or around 8,133 metric tons.

The "book value" for this gold is just $11 billion (we'll get to that later), though the real market value is approximately $1.32 trillion.

At its peak, the United States owned 649.6 million ounces of gold, though this was when the "gold standard" was still in place.

The United States owns more gold than any other nation in the world. While China has been on a gold buying frenzy as of late, they still own just 2,306 metric tons, far behind the United States.

The majority of the United States' gold - 147,341,858 troy ounces, or 56.3% of their holdings - is held at Fort Knox. There are conspiracy theories abound that there isn't actually that much gold in Fort Knox - read about the "show audit" in 1974 - but this is the amount that the government currently lists as being held at that site.

21.4% of the nation's gold is held at West Point in New York, while an additional 16.8% is stored in Denver, Colorado. An additional 5.1% is held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, while 1.1% is in "working stock", which is the gold that is actively used for the production of coins. This working stock is largely held at the Philadelphia and West Point Mints.

At one point, the United States held over 70% of the gold in the world. This was back when the "gold standard" was used by the nation. This meant that gold was the money that was used, and paper bills were simply "receipts" for that gold, and the bills could be converted into gold at any time.

The money supply was directly linked to the supply of gold in the country.

In the 1960s, the concept of the "gold standard" started to fall apart, as the United States printed more and more dollars. Other countries realized two things: 1) the dollar was overvalued 2) the United States couldn't make good if everyone tried to claim their gold at the same time.

In fact, France actually sent battleships to New York to trade in their dollars for gold bars.

In 1971, President Nixon closed the "gold window", ending the gold standard forever, and turning the US dollar into a fiat currency.

The Gold Reserve Act of 1934 sets a "statutory" price of $42.22 per fine troy ounce for gold. This law has never been repealed or amended, which is why the Federal Reserve still uses this price for their accounting.

The reality is that the nation's gold holdings are worth over 100x more than what the country's "books" have them valued at.

Filed under: General Knowledge