In May 2025, a largely unnoticed update from the Federal Reserve offered a peculiar glimpse into a world that may soon be forced to choose between monetary orthodoxy and outright reinvention. Buried in a 202-page financial accounting manual was a technical procedure on how to monetize gold certificates held by the U.S. Treasury. To the casual observer, it may appear administrative. But in the context of escalating fiscal pressure and shifting geopolitical tectonics, it signals something more profound: the tentative drafting of a new chapter in the global monetary order, one where gold plays a central, revalued role.
The Ghost of 1934 Returns
The notion of revaluing U.S. gold reserves from $42.22 to $40,000 per ounce may sound like internet-fuelled fantasy. But historical precedent should temper such scepticism. In 1934, President Roosevelt revalued gold from $20.67 to $35 (an overnight increase of 69%) in an effort to reflate the U.S. economy during the Great Depression. The move expanded the money supply without incurring new debt, anchoring the dollar in tangible collateral.
Download The Exit Plan
In today’s context, a similar revaluation would allow the Treasury to create approximately $10 trillion in liquidity without issuing new debt by simply marking its 260 million ounces of gold to market. The motivation is as clear as it is disquieting: the U.S. national debt has surpassed $37 trillion, while the conventional monetary toolkit (i.e. interest rates and quantitative easing) is increasingly impotent in the face of mounting political constraints and stagflationary risks.
The Contradiction at the Core of U.S. Strategy
This revaluation debate also exposes an inescapable paradox. The United States is attempting to do two things simultaneously: preserve the dollar’s role as global reserve currency while also depreciating it to revive domestic manufacturing. These goals are, frankly, incompatible. A strong dollar facilitates its reserve status, but it also hobbles export competitiveness and erodes industrial capacity.
Washington’s new embrace of tariffs and reshoring incentives is an implicit admission that decades of deindustrialization were strategically flawed. But reversing course means undermining the very system that enabled the U.S. to run massive current account deficits in the first place. If the dollar must weaken to restore industrial strength, then its reserve status becomes a casualty, not a crown.
A Temporary Lifeline or Long-Term Rupture?
Critically, a revaluation of gold would not be a restoration of the gold standard. Rather, it would be a fiscal sleight of hand, transforming the Treasury’s inert asset into spendable liquidity. Yet this would not be without consequence. As the dollar supply increases, inflation will follow, albeit with a lag. The danger is that those lured into selling their gold during the initial euphoric phase would find themselves holding rapidly depreciating fiat.
It’s an inflation trap masquerading as fiscal relief. And unlike in 1934, the stakes are global. A $40,000 gold price would instantly reprice every ounce on Earth, recalibrate central bank balance sheets, and challenge the credibility of every fiat currency.
Ultimately, the revaluation debate is not just about gold. It is about the quiet but accelerating acknowledgement that the financial architecture of the past fifty years is no longer structurally sound. The foundations of trust, debt, and monetary expansion are showing fatigue. Gold is not so much the solution as the confession.
Buy Gold Coins
Buy gold coins and bars and store them in the safest vaults in Switzerland, London or Singapore with GoldCore.
Learn why Switzerland remains a safe-haven jurisdiction for owning precious metals. Access Our Most Popular Guide, the Essential Guide to Storing Gold in Switzerland here.
Receive Our Award Winning Market Updates In Your Inbox – Sign Up Here
