Australia's Perth Mint launches 'digitised gold' token
The Perth Mint has launched a new gold token -- a digital token backed by a certificate issued by the mint and guaranteed by the government of Western Australia.
Helping with the launch of the Perth Mint Gold Token (PMGT) is InfiniGold, which calls itself a precious metals digitisation company. InfiniGold developed a platform for the digitisation of gold and other precious metals that the mint will use for its PMGT play.
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According to InfiniGold, PMGT is digitised gold that allows users to acquire and gain entitlement over government guaranteed physical gold stored at the Perth Mint.
It offers institutional investors an alternative to traditional gold products such as gold ETFs, "with the additional benefits of real-time trading and settlement enabled by blockchain technology".
"The digitisation of gold via a public ledger is a natural progression for the global commodity markets. It will promote gold as a mainstream asset, enhance its accessibility, and offer greater liquidity, transparency, and auditability of the real assets backing this type of digital token," Perth Mint CEO Richard Hayes said.
The mint last year launched GoldPass, allowing investors to buy, sell, and transfer physical gold via digital certificates through a mobile app.
Each certificate is 100% backed by physical Perth Mint gold stored in its network of central bank grade vaults, it said, with every ounce of gold held in storage guaranteed by the state government.
PMGT, issued by InfiniGold as an ERC-20 compatible asset-backed token, is the next step in the GoldPass initiative.
The real-time liquidity of PMGT is provided by market makers and enabled via The Perth Mint GoldPass platform where users can sell back to the Perth Mint, or take delivery of their holdings by exchanging their GoldPass certificates for a range of the Mint's gold products, including LBMA London Good Delivery (LGD) bars, InfiniGold explained.
"Subject to final regulatory consultation, this will make PMGT directly tradable against traditional gold products, including gold ETFs, CME gold futures, and physical XAU," the company said.
"PMGT offers owners superior transparency, credit quality, risk diversification, and hedging against market volatility as the token represents physical gold, which has historically been much more stable and a well-understood store of value."
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