The World Gold Council to build shared digital gold platform
The WGC calls for innovators and market participants from inside and outside the gold industry to contribute to the platform.
The open platform is intended to support the issuance and operation of scaleable, interoperable digital gold products.
The council says it would connect the physical custody of gold with digital systems to issue and manage gold-backed products, and by standardising essential market processes, the model aims to reduce complexity, improve access and consistency.
The report, Digital gold: The case for a shared infrastructure, which was co-authored by Boston Consulting Group, explores "gold as a service".
The white paper claims that despite trading, clearing and recordkeeping being largely electronic alongside a growing range of digital gold products, scale has been limited by structural constraints.
The council says that key features of the platform would include:
- Seamless product issuance and management
- Ease of trade
- Embedded trust and assurance
- Interoperability by design
- Broader utility
World Gold Council CEO David Tait says, 'Financial services are undergoing a rapid and pervasive digital transformation and gold must also evolve to maintain its role in the global financial system.'
