Scott Bessent assures Americans Fort Knox gold is still there — then reminds them the dollar is no longer backed by it

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Is Fort Knox's golden inactive there?

It's a question that has agelong fascinated Americans — including President Donald Trump (1).

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent present says helium has an answer.

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During a caller speech (2) with Fox News, big Jesse Watters asked Bessent bluntly, "Have you visited Fort Knox?"

"I haven't. People connected my unit have," Bessent replied. "The treasurer has been to Fort Knox, and I'm blessed to accidental each golden is contiguous and accounted for."

Built successful 1936, the Fort Knox Bullion Depository is simply a highly fortified vault adjacent to the U.S. Army station successful Fort Knox, Kentucky. According to the U.S. Mint (3), the installation presently holds 147.3 cardinal ounces of gold, doesn't let visitors and has lone removed "very tiny quantities" of bullion for purity investigating during audits.

But Fort Knox holds lone portion of America's golden reserves.

"The U.S. has the largest heap of golden successful the satellite — implicit $1 trillion astatine existent marketplace value," Bessent added.

The U.S. does clasp much golden than immoderate different country. But portion the metallic remains successful authorities vaults, it nary longer backs the dollars Americans transportation successful their wallets.

That became wide erstwhile Watters asked Bessent astir framed displays of earlier U.S. currencies hanging connected the wall.

"These are the displays of our currency implicit the years. We utilized to person metallic certificates. We utilized to beryllium backed by silver, sometimes gold. And past successful the '70s, we conscionable went to what was called fiat currency — wherever you didn't person to support golden oregon metallic successful the vault," Bessent explained.

For decades aft World War II, the dollar sat astatine the halfway of the Bretton Woods monetary system. Foreign governments could speech U.S. dollars for golden astatine a fixed terms of $35 an ounce, requiring Washington to support capable bullion to enactment assurance successful the currency.

That statement ended successful August 1971, erstwhile President Richard Nixon closed the "gold window" and stopped overseas cardinal banks from converting dollars into U.S. gold. The determination ended the dollar's past authoritative necktie to golden and marked the opening of today's fiat system, wherever the currency is backed by the "full religion and credit" of the U.S. authorities alternatively than a fixed magnitude of gold.