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Is Fort Knox Empty!?

Is Fort Knox Empty!?

James Altucher

Posted February 21, 2025

James Altucher

It started with a single tweet from Elon Musk. Just a simple question: Is the gold at Fort Knox still there?

That was all it took to make the internet start drawing red string diagrams.

People are throwing out every theory imaginable.

Some are convinced the gold was secretly sold off decades ago. Others say it was never there to begin with. Some people even believe the Grand Canyon is full of billions of ounces of gold(?). And then there’s Michael Saylor, who, predictably, chimed in with “Bitcoin fixes this.”

But, to be clear, this isn’t just some fringe internet debate.

Senator Rand Paul—who, by the way, represents Kentucky, where Fort Knox is—responded with “Let’s do it.”

So I had to do a deep dive on my latest podcast. (Link below.) 

Because if the gold is missing, that would mean the U.S. government has been lying for decades. It would also mean someone, somewhere, pulled off the biggest financial heist in history.

Forget bank robberies. Forget crypto hacks. This would be next-level.

But I have to ask:

Does it Even Matter?

Fort Knox wasn’t always the fortress of gold we imagine today. It was built in 1936, in the middle of nowhere, on purpose.

It was put there because it’s far inland, packed with soldiers, and impossible to sneak up on.

For decades, as you know, gold was seen as the backbone of the American economy.

Then, in 1971, Richard Nixon blew it all up.

He got on television one night and said, Yeah, we’re not doing this anymore. And just like that, the dollar was no longer tied to gold. No more backing. No more exchange.

(I talk about the truth of WHY he did it in the podcast.)

People freaked out. The dollar tanked. Inflation skyrocketed. And yet, somehow, over time, the world just went with it.

Today, people still talk about “gold reserves,” but does it even matter if the gold is actually there? Logically, no.

But symbolically? It’s a huge deal.

If the gold is missing, it means everything has been a lie. And if the government lied about that, what else are they lying about?

The Biggest Financial Scandal in History

The crazy part is, almost no one has ever been allowed inside Fort Knox.

The last time outsiders got a peek was in 2017, when Mitch McConnell and Steven Mnuchin did a quick visit and said, Yep, looks good.

Before that? The last time anyone outside the government saw the gold was 1974. Before that? 1943.

And those weren’t audits. No one went in with scales and testing equipment. They just looked at some bars and took the government’s word for it.

So yeah.

I want Elon Musk to go inside Fort Knox. I want cameras. I want a full audit.

I want to know if there’s actually 147.3 million ounces (worth +$400 billion) sitting there or if it’s just gold covered chocolate bars. Because if it’s gone, this could turn into one of the biggest financial scandals in history.

In the podcast, I go a lot deeper, and talk about other things like:

  • What happens if Fort Knox is actually empty? Does the dollar collapse? Does gold skyrocket? I have a contrarian take compared to most of Twitter.
  • Why do Trump and Musk care so much all of a sudden? Here’s why I think they care… and it’s going to make some people mad.
  • The bizarre security measures at Fort Knox—and why almost no one has ever been allowed inside. Could they be lying about this, too?
  • How does Bitcoin play into this? Here’s why I think all of this is bullish for Bitcoin.
  • The real reason Trump is killing the penny—and why it’s secretly a tax hike on every American. You might not notice, but over time, it adds up.
  • And random things like why air travel just changed forever. The last time you could fly from New York to L.A. in under two hours was 2003. But a new company cracked the code, and it’s about to change travel forever.

The world is changing fast.

Gold, money, AI, the penny, air travel—it’s all being rewritten.

So check out the episode and get the full story—before the next press conference where a spokesperson nervously drinks from a glass of water and says, “Define ‘gold.’”

🔗 Click here to listen now

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