If nobody has checked Fort Knox for 54 years to make sure that Gold stores are correct it is almost guaranteed that some has been stolen and removed. The only way that a stash of Gold can be guaranteed to be intact is if it is checked frequently or the original holder has died and nobody knows it exists. The latter occurs as in "archaeological gold" found in England every few weeks or months by metal detectors.
There have been frequent deficits found to be present in other central banks' Gold stores by pilfering. The Peron's in Argentina were notorious for this. It is difficult to assess the effect on the price of Gold when DOGE investigate and find some missing.
gg
I've read several times about how Fort Knox was looted and the bars replaced by fakes and it wasn't realised until some years later (which is now decades ago). I certainly can't confirm the story conclusively but it certainly seems very plausible and there is indirect evidence it is the case, such as when other countries with gold stored there said they no longer wanted the service of storing their gold there and the USA saying it would take several years to return it. Difficult to see how returning it could take several years, a little at a time, if it was indeed still there. Of course the official story is always going to be that nothing like that has ever happened and Fort Knox is incredibly secure, and that's coming from the same government which told you Epstein killed himself, Biden was fully mentally there and running the country rather than a puppet, those vaccines were definitely >99% effective and safe (before they'd even been tested!), etc etc etc.
If I had to guess, I'd say the story is true and Fort Knox was mostly looted. The motives for the USA covering up the theft are obvious, as of course is the motive for the theft, with multiple people having the option of stealing from there if they so chose. Fort Knox has stored gold since before CCTV surveillance existed. Imagine how easy it would have been for people trusted to guard it.
I'd also speculate that similar has happened to many gold stores around the world, and the actual amount in global storage is significantly lower than the reported amount, with some of the difference being lies such as Fort Knox, and some of it being undiscovered, such as gold reserves being looted and replaced by gold-plated alloy bars and the owners genuinely not yet knowing. Additionally, a lot of gold bars in storage are purchased as fakes to begin with, probably mostly those purchased by naive private individuals rather than large stores, and it's difficult to estimate the percentage, but it's certainly something which happens.
I wish I had access to some oracle of knowledge which could tell me all manner of things, including how much unreported gold exists, how much reported gold doesn't exist, and how much has been lost (such as sunken ships, people burying it or storing it in secret locations then dying or forgetting where it was, what percentage of gold sold is fake etc.