Fort Knox Gold Audit: The $600 Billion Transparency Question - Discovery Alert
discoveryalert.com.au
The US hasn't fully audited Fort Knox's $600 billion in gold since the 1950s — so is public distrust a conspiracy theory, or a legitimate governance failure?
Principal-Agent ProblemInstitutional Trust TheoryInformation AsymmetryPublic Choice Theory
Theory Briefing
- Fort Knox holds an estimated $600 billion in gold reserves that haven't been comprehensively audited since the 1950s, fuelling decades of public doubt.
- The article frames the audit debate not as fringe conspiracy but as a genuine accountability question about who verifies government-held assets.
- The same transparency logic applies to ASX-listed resource companies, where unverified reserve claims can move serious investor capital.
- Without independent verification, even legitimate holdings can't be distinguished from inflated or missing ones — the core of the governance problem.