The New Dollar
Fox News published an interview with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Jesses Watters on July 15, 2026. The conversation was nominally about Trump’s signature on the 100 dollar bill and his face on a special “gold” one dollar coin.
During the interview, Jesse Watters was given a brief history of American money, and asked Secretary Bessent about the gold at Fort Knox.
Watters: [Pointing to framed currency in the hall of the Treasury] What are we looking at here? These look exquisite.
Bessent: These are the displays of our currency over the years- some of it. We used to have silver certificates. We used to be backed by silver, sometimes gold; and, then, in the 70’s, we just went to what was called fiat currency, where you didn’t have to keep gold or silver in the vault. If any of these are still outstanding though, the silver or gold for them is at Fort Knox waiting for them to be claimed. If so needed.
Watters: Have you visited Fort Knox?
Bessent: I haven’t. I haven’t. People on my staff have. We’re going to the Treasurer’s office. The Treasurer has been to Fort Knox and I am happy to say that all gold is present and accounted for. The US has the largest pile of gold in the world. Over a trillion dollars at current market value.
Watters: And we’re getting a lot of gold from Venezuela, I hear.
Like Fort Knox, Trump’s one dollar gold coin won’t contain any gold. Like the Sacagawea “gold” dollar, it will be made out of base metals. His signature will be on the one-hundred-dollar bill for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.[1][2]
Interestingly, Trump is the 47th US President and Bessent is the 79th US Treasury Secretary. Being elements, the atomic number for silver is 47 and the atomic number for gold is 79. Maybe there is gold at Fort Knox to back up the old gold and silver certificates. Maybe not.
[1]https://www.newsweek.com/trumps-face-new-1-dollar-coin-revealed-12194361
