Yes. This is where the numbers get very interesting, and I think it fits the question you’ve been asking about a possible monetary reset.
The answer depends on what you mean by “all U.S. dollars.” There are several possible denominators.
The U.S. Treasury reports about 261.5 million troy ounces of gold in the government’s reserve.
If the dollar were backed by U.S. gold
Using roughly $22 trillion of M2 money as the dollars to be backed:
$22 trillion ÷ 261.5 million oz = about $84,000 per ounce of gold.
So:
| What is backed |
Approx. gold price |
| Federal Reserve monetary base |
~$20,000–$25,000/oz |
| M2 money supply |
~$84,000/oz |
| U.S. federal debt |
~$145,000/oz |
| M2 + federal debt |
~$230,000/oz |
Those are 100% backing calculations, not forecasts.
And remember: Treasury still officially values its gold at only $42.2222/oz, an accounting value established by statute—not its market value.
Here’s the really important point
The government doesn’t have to back every dollar with one ounce of gold.
It could say:
“We will redeem $X for one ounce of gold.”
The higher the official gold price, the more dollars each ounce supports.
For example, if the government revalued its 261.5 million ounces to:
- $10,000 gold → $2.615 trillion backing
- $25,000 gold → $6.54 trillion
- $50,000 gold → $13.08 trillion
- $75,000 gold → $19.61 trillion
- $100,000 gold → $26.15 trillion
- $150,000 gold → $39.23 trillion
So around $75,000–$100,000 gold would be enough to put the government’s gold reserve in the neighborhood of the entire M2 money supply.
What about silver?
That’s much harder to calculate because the U.S. government doesn’t have a comparable giant monetary silver reserve. You could have a gold + silver standard, but you’d first have to establish a conversion ratio—for example, 20:1, 30:1, or 50:1.
So there isn’t one mathematically determined silver price.
But gold is the really interesting number. If the U.S. ever decided to restore a serious gold backing to the existing dollar supply, I think $50,000–$100,000 gold is a much more meaningful range to examine than today’s price, depending on exactly which dollars and liabilities they choose to back.
And there’s another calculation I think you would find particularly interesting: what gold price would be required to back the U.S. national debt at 20%, 40%, 50%, or 100% with the existing 261.5 million ounces. That gets into the kind of monetary “reset” you have been talking about.
