Gold reserves held by the US Treasury now have a market value of more than $1 trillion, which is 90 times more than what is stated on the government’s balance sheet, Bloomberg reported on Monday.
The official value of the US government’s gold is fixed at just over $11 billion, which is based on the $42.22-an-ounce price set by Congress in 1973.
The US-dollar-denominated gold price has climbed about 45% so far in 2025, reaching $3,824.50 an ounce on Monday.
Trade tariff uncertainty, geopolitical tensions, and growing worries about a potential government funding crisis in the US, are thought to have contributed to the recent rally in the precious metal, which has also been fueled by inflows into exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
The media outlet noted that, unlike most countries, the gold holdings of the US are held by the government directly, rather than by the central bank.
The Federal Reserve instead holds gold certificates corresponding to the value of the Treasury’s holdings and credits the government with dollars in return.
An August note from an economist at the Federal Reserve stated that Germany, Italy and South Africa all have taken the decision to revalue their reserves in recent decades.
The US gold holding totals about 261.5 million ounces, according to Treasury Department data.
The gold reserves are held mostly in storage in a vault beside the US Army base at Fort Knox, Kentucky, while the rest is held between depositories at West Point, Denver, and a vault below the Fed’s building in lower Manhattan.