The world's largest gold vault, no bomb can destroy it

Gold custody is one of the financial services that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) New York branch provides to central banks, governments and international organizations. Accordingly, the Fed's gold warehouse was built in the early 1920s, located in the basement of Building No. 33 Liberty Street, where the New York Fed branch is located, located in the Financial District in Lower Manhattan (New York). ).

In terms of structure, the building has 14 floors and 5 basements. The patrolling security team operates continuously. There are three staff on duty 24/7 inside each compartment of the gold vault.

This is considered an ideal and safe place to store gold for wealthy 'customers'.

In fact, none of the gold stored in vaults belongs to the Fed or the New York Fed branch. The New York Fed acts as the guardian and custodian of gold for its owners, which include the US government, foreign governments, other central banks and official international organizations. In particular, no individual or private organization is allowed to store gold in this warehouse.

At the deepest level, 24 meters below ground level, lies the largest known gold reserve in the world. The warehouse is storing about 6,350 tons of gold, about 508,000 bars, with a total value of hundreds of billions of dollars.

The vault has about 122 storage rooms, each room will correspond to the amount of gold of an owner. This means that gold between owners will not be mixed. Each compartment is protected by a padlock, 2 combination locks and an auditor's seal. The accounts corresponding to the compartments are identified only by number, not by name.

Much of the gold in the vault was moved during and after World War II as many countries wanted to store their gold reserves in a safe location.

The amount of gold held in vaults continued to increase and peaked in 1973 at 12,000 tons of gold, shortly after the United States suspended the conversion of dollars into gold for foreign governments.

Since that time, gold deposit and withdrawal activities have decreased and the amount of gold reserves in warehouses has also decreased significantly. However, this gold warehouse is still known as the place that stores the most gold in the world.

To store a huge amount of gold, the vault was designed to be located on the rock foundation of Manhattan Island with an area equal to half of a football field.

The gold warehouse has a strict security system including sound monitoring devices, motion sensors, and cameras arranged everywhere.

The only way into the tunnel is a 7m long steel cylinder. The door weighs 90 tons and is covered in 140 tons of concrete and steel that no bomb can destroy.

The walls are built of granite, so no thief can penetrate them or be destroyed by bombs.

Gold bars are transported by elevator from street level to the basement. Once in storage, the assets are controlled by a team of three managers: two gold warehouse employees and one New York Fed internal auditor. They must be present whenever gold is moved or a compartment in the vault is opened—even when a light bulb is changed. This helps ensure gold remains safe and secure.

All gold bars brought into the warehouse are carefully weighed and tested for purity to ensure the rights of the owners. Important information will be fully and carefully recorded in the records of the New York Fed. This step is very important because the New York Fed will return the exact amount of gold that the customer previously deposited.

Employees working here who want to enter the building must go through a series of strict security doors. Ordinary people who want to make an appointment 1 - 3 months in advance are still not guaranteed to be admitted.

This is said to be the safest gold warehouse in the world. Since the day it started operating, the gold vault has not had any incidents.

Samuel Daniel

Update 01 April 2024