Whether billionaire Elon Musk steps away from his work with the federal government and the Department of Government Efficiency remains to be seen. But one item on President Donald Trump and Musk’s agenda has been getting their eyes on the $400 billion worth of gold bars stored in Fort Knox.
As recently reported by The Wall Street Journal, Trump wants to “inspect Fort Knox,” the famed gold repository in Kentucky. Scott Bessent, U.S. Treasury secretary, assured the public, via a Bloomberg broadcast dated Feb. 20, 2025, “We do an audit every year. I can tell the American people … all the gold is there,” as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Around the same time, Musk, the chairman and chief technology officer of X, formerly Twitter, told news sources, it “would be awesome to livestream Fort Knox,” according to Fox Business. “It is actually the gold of the American people, so the American people, it seems to me, have a right to see their gold.”
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In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt inspected the bars, according to a Wall Street Journal video. In 1974, congressional delegates and journalists entered the vault amid rumors that the gold was missing. (Spoiler alert: It was still there.)
In 2017, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, under the first Trump administration, also inspected the vault.
But what do investors have to gain — or lose — with the attention being placed on our nation’s gold repository?
Experts GOBankingRates spoke with agreed that the current focus on gold shouldn’t drive prices up. But other factors can.
Collin Plume, founder and CEO of Noble Gold Investments and My Digital Money, called the interest in gold “a media play,” saying, “I don’t think putting a spotlight on gold in this manner will increase its value.”
“When high-profile figures like Trump and Musk bring attention to gold, it naturally sparks public interest. However, the driving factor behind gold’s meteoric rise over the last few years is more deeply rooted in the dire conditions of the American economy,” said Jonathan Rose, CEO of BlockTrust IRA and Genesis Gold Group.
Noting that gold historically thrives in times of economic uncertainty, inflation and geopolitical instability, Rose said, “It’s looking like a very solid hedge.”
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Experts said there is virtually zero chance that the vault will be empty. “That CANNOT happen,” Plume said. In this highly unlikely hypothetical scenario, however, it would create a tremendous loss of confidence in the U.S., Plume said.
