A proposal to tokenize or monitor U.S. gold reserves to enhance transparency via blockchain may not operate as trustlessly as Bitcoin, but it could still provide benefits for the cryptocurrency, according to a research analyst.
Greg Cipolaro, global head of research at New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG), noted in a March 21 memo that officials from the Trump administration, including Elon Musk, have suggested utilizing a blockchain for tracking U.S. gold and governmental expenditures — a notion embraced by some crypto leaders.
“The reality of blockchains is that they aren’t particularly intelligent,” Cipolaro explained. “Their capacity to convey information is quite limited. For instance, Bitcoin lacks awareness of its own price or even the current time.”
He remarked that the tokenization or monitoring of gold reserves via blockchain could facilitate audits and promote transparency, but it would still “depend on trust and collaboration with central entities,” unlike Bitcoin, which “was explicitly designed to eliminate centralized authorities.”
Cipolaro further emphasized that the concepts of tokenization and blockchain tracking do not compete with the cryptocurrency market and could actually raise awareness of it, ultimately “benefiting Bitcoin.”
This discussion comes as there are renewed calls for an independent audit of the U.S. gold reserves.
Republican Senator Rand Paul last month seemingly urged Musk’s federal cost-reduction initiative to scrutinize the U.S. government’s gold reserves housed at the Bullion Depository in Fort Knox, which the U.S. Mint claims contains approximately half of the nation’s gold.
While the Treasury annually audits and publishes reports on the gold stored at Fort Knox and other sites across the U.S., both President Donald Trump and Musk have echoed long-standing conspiracy theories about the gold and have questioned its existence.
Both have advocated for a comprehensive audit of Fort Knox, which was last opened in 2017 for then-Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to inspect the gold and previously in 1974 for a congressional delegation and a group of journalists.
The Mint’s website states that there have been no significant additions or removals of gold at Fort Knox “for many years,” other than “very small quantities” removed for purity testing during audits.
Last month, Trump’s Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, asserted that Fort Knox is audited annually and that “all the gold is present and accounted for.”
