Arizona Tribune - Bigger Than Fort Knox, Money Metals Depository Advises U.S. Treasury on Proper Gold Audit Practices

As noted by Gleason, over the past decade, there has been a significant increase in central bank gold buying, particularly by China, Russia, and by other BRICS nations.

This trend accelerated when the U.S. weaponized the dollar via the SWIFT system in 2022 by denying Russia's access, freezing its holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds, and de-listed Russian-refined gold bars.

These actions inspired many nations to accelerate their accumulation of physical gold.

Gold goes where it is most adored, and so far China has since become the leader in gold acquisitions, both publicly and in secrecy.

With more recently increased concerns regarding economic instability in Washington, D.C., the exorbitant and ever-increasing national debt, shaky geopolitical ties, and Trump's threats of tariffs, the U.S. has also seen an increase in gold holdings and investments.

In fact, gold demand has surged due to fears of an international tariff war, causing physical gold to be redirected to the U.S. while tightening supply in other regions, such as South Korea. Even Mexican miners are making plans to reroute mint production to Canada to avoid heavy tariffs.

As to the retail gold market in the U.S. there are not as many new purchases as there were from 2020 to 2023 and there has actually been an increase in selling of gold by holders who either wish to take profits given the higher prices recently - or simply need the money.

According to Gleason, these gold holdings act as a hedge against inflation brought on by the Federal Reserve's artificially low interest rates, Treasury printing, and congressional spending. Although inflation has decreased recently, there are still valid concerns among experts about a recession in 2025 or 2026.

Gold has historically performed well during recessions or crises, even when stocks and the dollar are strong. Gold as a hedge in such an insecure economic climate provides a safe haven for assets as well as a hedge for policy mistakes by the government itself.

Gleason, a strong proponent of sound money and the founder of the Sound Money Defense League, argued, "Gold is a crisis hedge, and there's been a lot of bad things happening in the world over the last several years, starting with the Pandemic, inflation, a regional bank scare in the US, and the threats of world war… These are all bad events, and gold is a crisis hedge for those."

The highest gold price in history represents a culmination of geopolitical and national turmoil, and it has brought gold to the forefront of popular media.

The ongoing news about gold has since reopened the case of Fort Knox, drawing popular criticism and questions concerning the Treasury's gold holdings and their audits.

Gleason weighed in on this growing concern and skepticism.

"The Treasury has audits that check the seals on the gold compartments where the gold is held in various vaults." Gleason goes on to say, "That does not mean any of the gold was inspected, assayed, counted, weighed; there was no examination of whether there are any encumbrances against them, pledges, leases, swaps, and so forth. This is simply a paperwork audit."

Money Metals, which has one of the largest privately owned precious metals depositories in North America, larger than Fort Knox, is well-seasoned in operating a respected depository and going through rigorous auditing of its vaults. Holdings undergo daily, weekly, monthly, and annual audit procedures - both internal and independent in nature.

"We (The Money Metals Depository) know all about auditing. First of all, audits are not one-and-done. Audits are continuous and ongoing; and, there are practices that have to be followed with respect to dual controls, chain of custody, re-auditing things that have been opened.

"The U.S. Treasury has violated all of the basic common sense audit rules that should be done, including opening sealed vault compartments without explanation and without ever re-auditing them."

Gleason continued, "Aside from a dearth of audits and breached internal procedures, there are other problems with U.S. gold reserves. One of them is that most of it is not liquid, it's coin melt bars that are 90% gold that are made of old coins that were mostly expropriated from the American people in the 1930s and then melted down into these gold bars that are not Good Delivery bars."

"More fundamentally, there has never been an audit or public disclosure of any other types of activities involving the U.S. gold… has it been pledged, has it been leased, has it been given to the IMF, has it been rehypothecated such that there are encumbrances, has it been pledged to the Federal Reserve to back the bonds?

"It's patently ridiculous to suggest that the U.S. gold reserves have been properly audited - and anyone who says so is either totally naïve or has a hidden agenda."

In order to overcome these difficulties and inconsistencies, Gleason has been working on a federal bill known as the Gold Reserve Transparency Act, which would require a proper audit including a full assay, accounting, a look into the security measures, upgrade the reserves to liquid Good Delivery bars, and investigate any encumbrances. This bill would help establish greater government transparency and accountability.

Whether or not the Treasury and Trump decide to go through proper auditing of Fort Knox, it is not likely that gold will lose any real value or public interest going forward.

That would require greater global peace and economic stability, the U.S. government to adopt fiscally responsible policies, a total reformation if not ending of the Federal Reserve, significant monetary tightening and deflation, or a world-shattering gold discovery.

Jp Cortez
[email protected]

SOURCE: Money Metals Exchange

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

R.Lee--AT