U.S. Treasury gold reserves surge past $1T, worth 90X book value of $11 billion

The United States Treasury’s gold hoard has smashed through the $1 trillion mark in 2025, climbing to a level more than 90 times higher than what appears on the official government books.

This milestone came after the price of gold soared past $3,824.50 per ounce on Monday, recording a 45% rally this year, according to data from Bloomberg.

The Treasury still lists the stash at just $11 billion, because the official value is tied to the outdated $42.22 per ounce price Congress locked in back in 1973.

The U.S. controls the world’s biggest pile of gold, and its value has been exploding as investors pour in during a period of turbulence. The surge has been linked to trade wars, geopolitical flashpoints, and growing fears of a funding crisis in Washington.

The rush has been strengthened by inflows into exchange-traded funds and the Federal Reserve’s decision to resume interest rate cuts, driving more investors into safe assets like gold.

Treasury considers impact of revaluing gold holdings

In early 2025, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threw fuel on market speculation after making a casual remark about marking the government’s gold reserves to current market prices. Analysts jumped on the idea, calculating it could unleash hundreds of billions of dollars in new room for government spending. Days later, Scott backtracked, calling the chatter unfounded, and Bloomberg reported that no serious plan exists to push the revaluation forward.

The U.S. system for handling reserves is different from most nations. The Treasury holds the physical gold, while the Federal Reserve only carries gold certificates that match the Treasury’s balance. In return, the Fed credits the government with dollars.

If the government decided to update the value of its holdings to the market price, about $990 billion could be injected into the Treasury’s coffers. Under today’s tight debt ceiling, such a windfall would be tempting, but it could also flood the system with liquidity and interfere with the Fed’s ongoing efforts to shrink its balance sheet.

Other countries have taken that step. Germany, Italy, and South Africa have all revalued their reserves in recent decades, as highlighted in an August note from a Federal Reserve economist. The United States has resisted, leaving the official numbers frozen in a 1970s time capsule while the market value rockets past the trillion-dollar line.

Fort Knox and rising conspiracy theories

The Treasury’s gold hoard is vast, totaling about 261.5 million ounces. More than half of it has been sealed away for decades in deep storage inside the famous vault near Fort Knox, Kentucky, where the stock was transferred during the 1930s from New York and Philadelphia to shield it from possible foreign attacks across the Atlantic.

The rest is split between facilities in West Point, Denver, and an underground vault about 80 feet (24 meters) beneath the Federal Reserve building in lower Manhattan.

Despite the tight security, questions about the reserves have refused to go away. In February 2025, conspiracy theories picked up steam when President Donald Trump and Elon Musk both questioned whether the stash at Fort Knox really exists as claimed.

Trump told reporters, “We’re going to go to Fort Knox — the fabled Fort Knox — to make sure the gold is there. If the gold isn’t there, we’re going to be very upset.”

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