Gold Reserve Act

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The United States Gold Reserve Act of January 31, 1934 required that all gold and gold certificates held by the Federal Reserve be surrendered and vested in the sole title of the United States Department of the Treasury.

Following the Executive Order 6102 the year before, it had already become a criminal offense for U.S. citizens to own or trade gold anywhere in the world, with an exception of some jewelry and collector's coins. Gold certificates were again allowed for private investors on April 24, 1964, although the obligation to pay the certificate holder on demand in gold specie would not be honored. By 1975 Americans could again freely own and trade gold. The Act also changed the nominal price of gold from $20.67 per troy ounce to $35 per ounce.

The Gold Reserve Act authorized the Exchange Stabilization Fund to use such assets as were not needed for exchange market stabilization to deal in government securities. It had no statutory authority, however, to engage in other activities that it began to undertake.