Hypothesis over Fort Knox’s gold reserves grows as many years with out full audits gasoline doubts in regards to the vault’s contents. On Polymarket, bettors now value a 21% chance the gold doesn’t exist, mirroring lingering public mistrust regardless of official claims of safety.
Is America’s Iconic Gold Safe? 21% of Polymarket Bettors Say No
Many years of conjecture have swirled round Fort Knox’s bullion, with hypotheses alleging its gold has been covertly relocated, liquidated, or supplanted by counterfeit ingots. Such narratives have gained traction from the depository’s enduring mystique—shrouded in labeled protocols and shielded from exterior verification—whereas trendy influencers, together with Elon Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump, has reinvigorated fascination by advocating for transparency.
On the prediction platform Polymarket, customers are betting on the thriller: One contract at present assigns a 21% chance that the gold doesn’t exist, highlighting broader curiosity—and unease—about what lies throughout the U.S. Bullion Depository. Whereas U.S. officers have lengthy asserted the gold stays safe, the absence of contemporary verification retains theories alive. As an illustration, the final full audit of Fort Knox’s gold reserves passed off in 1953, and that train was reportedly a spot verify of solely about 6% of the gold.
Polymarket wager on Feb. 23, 2025.
Whereas routine “vault seal checks” have been carried out since then, they don’t represent complete audits. A restricted inspection in 1974 granted minimal entry to journalists and Congress members however didn’t embody an intensive stock or purity verification. Fort Knox stays among the many world’s most safe services, with entry being extraordinarily restricted.
In 2017, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin, and a number of other members of Congress stepped into Fort Knox’s storied chambers. The go to amounted to a superficial inspection, not an audit, as officers kept away from using rigorous strategies to evaluate the gold’s purity via empirical verification. One might say it was merely a photograph alternative.
Since 1974, solely a handful of senior officers have been permitted entry, and no public excursions or examinations have been organized. This veil of secrecy has prompted doubts concerning the continued presence of all of the reported gold.
President Donald Trump has declared his intention to confirm the gold reserves at Fort Knox, asserting that he plans to make sure the gold is precisely accounted for. Trump reiterated his dedication to probing the difficulty, saying on a number of events, “We’re going to enter Fort Knox to verify the gold is there.” In mild of Trump’s historical past of fulfilling high-profile guarantees, it seems possible that this inspection will transfer ahead, notably with Musk’s participation attracting appreciable public curiosity.
