An idea to tokenize or track US gold reserves to make their movements transparent on a blockchain won\u2019t work in the same trustless way as Bitcoin does, but doing so could help the cryptocurrency, says a research analyst.<\/p>\n
Greg Cipolaro, global head of research at New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG), said in a March 21 note<\/a> that Trump administration officials, including Elon Musk, have floated using a blockchain to track US gold and government spending \u2014 an idea supported by<\/a> crypto executives.<\/p>\n \u201cHere\u2019s the thing about blockchains. They\u2019re not very smart,\u201d Cipolaro said. \u201cThey\u2019re limited in the information they convey. For example, Bitcoin has no idea what the price of Bitcoin is or even the current time.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the tokenization or tracking of gold reserves on a blockchain could help with audits and transparency but would still \u201crely on trust and coordination with central entities\u201d compared to Bitcoin, which \u201cwas designed to explicitly remove centralized entities.\u201d<\/p>\n Cipolaro added that tokenization and blockchain-tracking ideas aren\u2019t competitive with the crypto market and might help to increase awareness of it, which \u201ccould ultimately benefit Bitcoin.\u201d<\/p>\n It comes amid calls from some for an independent audit of the United States\u2019 gold reserves.<\/p>\n Republican Senator Rand Paul last month seemingly called on Musk\u2019s federal cost-cutting project to investigate<\/a> the US government\u2019s gold stash<\/a> at the Bullion Depository in Fort Knox, which the US Mint says<\/a> holds around half of the country\u2019s gold.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Treasury audits and publishes reports<\/a> on gold holdings at Fort Knox and other locations across the US every month, but President Donald Trump and Musk have both parrotted decades-old conspiracy theories about the gold and questioned<\/a> whether it\u2019s all still there.<\/p>\n Source: <\/em>Elon Musk<\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Related: <\/strong><\/em>Who\u2019s running in Trump\u2019s race to make US a \u2018Bitcoin superpower?’<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n They have both pushed for an independent audit of Fort Knox. The vaults were last opened in 2017 for Trump\u2019s then-Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to view the gold and before that, in 1974 to a congressional delegation and a group of journalists.<\/p>\n The Mint\u2019s website says that no gold has gone in or out of Fort Knox \u201cfor many years,\u201d except for \u201cvery small quantities\u201d used to test the gold\u2019s purity during audits.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said<\/a> last month that Fort Knox is audited every year and \u201call the gold is present and accounted for.\u201d<\/p>\n Magazine: <\/strong><\/em>Elon Musk\u2019s plan to run government on blockchain faces uphill battle<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n