By Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has appointed economist Judy Shelton as a counselor, bringing a longtime advocate of gold-linked government bonds into the department responsible for managing America’s debt and currency policy, according to one report.
The appointment, announced Friday, returns Shelton to the executive branch after Senate opposition derailed President Donald Trump’s effort to place her on the Federal Reserve Board during his first term. Her new position does not require Senate confirmation.
Treasury said Shelton “will advise the Secretary on currency policy, with a particular focus on evaluating financial conditions in China.” But her years of support for giving gold a greater role in the monetary system have drawn attention to what else she could bring to Bessent’s team.
Shelton has proposed issuing long-term Treasury bonds that investors could redeem at maturity in either dollars or a predetermined quantity of gold. The proposal would give bondholders protection against a decline in the dollar’s purchasing power, potentially allowing Washington to borrow at lower interest rates.
In a July 2025 post on X, she wrote: “I have proposed calling them Treasury Trust Bonds, and yes, to be issued on July 4, 2026 and convertible at maturity into gold.”
She outlined the idea in an October 2024 interview with Kitco News. “What we need to do is use the gold holdings as specific collateral for a new treasury instrument – a long-term Treasury Bond,” Shelton said. She added, “We should have the Treasury issue Treasury Trust Bonds.”
The proposal would put America’s substantial gold reserves behind a new borrowing instrument without restoring a classical gold standard. It comes as heavy federal borrowing and elevated debt-service costs put pressure on Washington’s finances.
The government’s gold holdings also carry an unusual accounting distinction. Treasury owns roughly 261.5 million fine troy ounces, but values that stock at a statutory price of approximately $42.22 an ounce. That puts its official book value at about $11 billion, far below its market value.
Changing that statutory valuation and issuing gold-redeemable bonds would be separate policies. A revaluation would change the accounting value of gold the government already owns. Shelton’s bond proposal would instead give investors a contractual option to receive a fixed quantity of gold when their securities mature.
Treasury’s announcement endorsed neither approach. It did not mention gold, a reserve revaluation, or plans for a new debt instrument.
Still, the appointment attracted notice among commentators who follow gold and monetary policy. Writing Friday, Quoth the Raven called the move “almost exactly what you would expect to see” if Washington were considering a larger monetary role for gold, while adding, “I don’t think that means a gold revaluation is imminent.”
Shelton previously served as U.S. director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and as chairman of the National Endowment for Democracy. She has also held research positions at the Independent Institute and Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. Her 2020 nomination to the Federal Reserve Board stalled amid bipartisan objections.
Her stated assignment now centers on China, which has been a major official gold buyer while competing with the United States over trade, technology, and the international role of the dollar. Treasury said that “throughout her career, she has specialized in analyzing the internal monetary and financial conditions of nations and their impact on exchange rates.”
Bessent’s decision gives a prominent critic of the monetary system established after the dollar’s break with gold in 1971 a place inside Treasury. Whether her ideas become administration policy will depend on decisions that Friday’s announcement did not make.
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