Gold-Backed Cryptocurrencies

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Peter89

Peter89

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A forum dedicated to precious metals... a forum section dedicated to cryptocurrencies... and nowhere a thread dedicated to gold-backed cryptocurrencies? That’s unacceptable :)
There are many projects about gold-backed cryptocurrencies, as one can see from my signature I participate in the affiliate program of one of them so I'm particularly familiar with this one, but this thread is not just about Kinesis.

Imo gold-backed cryptos are good news for gold as they offer it the opportunity to become money within a digital society.
Currently gold is used only as an investment. It is considered as money too but one thing is considering something as money, another one is using it as money. AFAIK nowhere is gold used as everyday money.
I think sound money fans should embrace the opportunity offered by the blockchain technology (still a black box to me) as it allows for gold to be used as everyday money just as easy as one uses fiat currency.

In short, the benefits of PM-backed cryptocurrencies that come to mind are:
- cutting off banks' intermediation in everyday spending (provided a debit/credit card is available);
- cutting off brokers' intermediation in trading PM;
- low entry threshold, allowing low income households to save and invest in PM;
- easiness of investing in PM (only a smartphone is required. No need to travel to the next PM dealer, which in some countries can be located far away from where one lives);
- low trading spreads;
- secure storage.
 
There are quite a few gold backed crypto tokens (in no particular order):
There may be more out there that I'm not aware of.

The Perth Mint in Australia used to offer a gold backed digital token, but the program was discontinued:

www.perthmint.com

PMGT | The Perth Mint Gold Token

The Perth Mint Gold Token (PMGT) has been discontinued.
www.perthmint.com www.perthmint.com

There have been a few other (non-government) tokens that also discontinued:


Here in the USA, individual States are considering legislation to create their own government run gold backed digital tokens:

www.pmbug.com

Texas to issue a gold backed crypto?

No idea if this bill has legs, but Texas surprises sometimes so who knows... ... Based on the text of Senate Bill 2334, which was introduced by state Senator Bryan Huges (R), and House Bill 4903, which was introduced by state Representative Mark Dorazio (R), the legislators are looking to...
www.pmbug.com www.pmbug.com

www.pmbug.com

Individual US States push for gold and silver legalization

A bill filed in the Indiana House would take important steps toward treating gold and silver as money and set the stage for the people there to undermine the Federal Reserve’s monopoly on money. Rep. Cindy Ledbetter and three cosponsors introduced House Bill 1043 (HB1043) for introduction on...
www.pmbug.com www.pmbug.com

It won't be long before some States make one and we'll be following in Zimbabwe's footsteps. :paperbag:
 
Thanks @pmbug
when talking about gold-backed products the first question is whether it's really backed :)

Everybody knows Tether/USDT, apparently the 16th largest holder of U.S. treasuries globally, therefore probably another too-big-to-fail financial institution.
Few know that Tether issue a gold-backed cryptocurrency, Tether Gold, currently with a market cap of $500M and 7.6 tons of gold as reserves.

This is their website: https://gold.tether.to/
This is their Whitepaper: https://gold.tether.to/Tether Gold Whitepaper.pdf

Nowhere is the word audit to be found.
 
Talking about audits

Kinesis Passes Q1 Audit 2024
View audit

and this has nothing to do with audits but it's a beautiful silver coin nonetheless :)

GGyhBsuXMAAkLF0
 
We have an informative thread about Individual US States push for gold and silver legalization
I read that some states, like Arizona, are promoting among others a digital transactional currency backed by gold or silver

Under SB1633 the Director of the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions would be required to issue specie (gold or silver coins minted by the state) and establish a transactional currency “as the director determines to be practicable.”

A transactional currency is defined as “a representation of actual precious metals, specie and bullion held in a depository account by a depository account holder that may be transferred by electronic instruction and that reflects the exact unit of physical precious metals, specie or bullion in the pooled depository account in its fractional troy ounce measurement.”

The depository would manage the transfer of the digital transactional currency between parties and ensure it is 100 percent backed by physical gold or silver held there.

In effect, individuals and businesses would be able to transact business electronically using currency backed by gold and/or silver held in the depository.
Click to expand...

Under digital transactional currency backed by gold I can't imagine anything other than a gold-backed stablecoin.
 
The language may vary a bit, but all the State level bills that seek to make gold/silver transactional are working towards that. :)
 
Financial powerhouse HSBC (HSBA) is tokenizing gold for everyday investors in Hong Kong and claiming bragging rights as the first bank to create a blockchain-based real-world asset aimed at the retail marketplace.

The HSBC Gold Token, minted on the bank’s Orion digital assets platform, is available via HSBC Online Banking and HSBC HK Mobile App, the bank said in a press release on Wednesday.
...
Click to expand...


HSBC Gold Token is a digital token on our distributed ledger, backed by physical gold bars kept in our vault.
...
Who can apply?

To be able to trade HSBC Gold Token, you need to have an active HSBC HK Investment Account and HK residential address registered with the bank.

You are not eligible if you are a US citizen, a US resident or a US tax payer, or have US nationality or a US address (for example: primary mailing, residence or business address in the US).
...
Click to expand...

HSBC Gold Token | New way to own & invest in gold - HSBC HK

Gain ownership of physical gold held in our vault with HSBC Gold Token. Invest with peace of mind as the security is ensured on our private distributed ledger.
www.hsbc.com.hk www.hsbc.com.hk
 
Found on the Twitters:
...
You should note that an investment in the Product is not the same as acquiring a physical gold bar. In particular, under the Product, investors acquire only fractional ownership of the Gold (as defined in the section entitled "What is this Product?" below). When compared to directly acquiring a physical gold bar, investors holding only fractional ownership of the Gold represented by HSBC Gold Tokens ("Fractional Ownership") will be subject to certain limitations, including but not limited to the following (the "Limitations"):
  • Investors will not have the ability to take physical possession or delivery of the Gold at any point, even in the case of insolvency of the Bank (in which an appointed Disposal Agent will be obligated under the Disposal Agent Appointment Agreement to liquidate the Gold and distribute the proceeds to the investors).
  • Investors can only trade the Gold represented by the HSBC Gold Token via the Bank, subject to the below:
    • the price of the Gold represented by HSBC Gold Tokens is determined by the Bank according to the pricing mechanism of the Product;
    • any trading outside the Gold Trading Hours (as defined in the section entitled "What are the Key Features? – Pricing Mechanism" below) will be subject to a higher Bank Margin (as defined in the section entitled "What are the Key Features? – Pricing Mechanism" below) of 5% at maximum; and
    • suspension of dealing may be imposed by the Bank.
...
Click to expand...

More details:

 
pmbug said:
Financial powerhouse HSBC (HSBA) is tokenizing gold for everyday investors in Hong Kong and claiming bragging rights as the first bank to create a blockchain-based real-world asset aimed at the retail marketplace.

The HSBC Gold Token, minted on the bank’s Orion digital assets platform, is available via HSBC Online Banking and HSBC HK Mobile App, the bank said in a press release on Wednesday.
Click to expand...

They have regular independent audits, so it's better than an ETF.

This is no gold backed currency because it isn't designed to be a currency, i.e. everyday's money.
It's only for investment purposes.

It will help to drive the gold price up by sucking up liquidity, but in terms of Gold Standard it's irrelevant :)
imo
 
Agreed. It's also tightly controlled and only tradeable for certain HSBC customers in a small geographic region. Even so, if it is a success from HSBC's point of view, it's possible that other banks might copy the program opening more doors for gold investment globally.
 
1.png


"Each HSBC Gold Token represents ... 0.001 troy ounce of Loco London gold"
Why is the price of those 0.001 oz determined by the Bank instead of by the gold market?
This is nothing but some gold derivative.
imo
 
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What would the transaction fee be for using your gold debt card? And who gets it?
 
I skimmed the transcript. Around 45 to 47 minute mark they talk about the Texas gold backed crypto legislation that is still pending. The guest suggest Kinesis to contact two individuals who are lobbying for the legislation and Kinesis' host says they will reach out to the lobbyists. The Young Pretender (author of the tweet) has misconstrued what was presented in the video IMO. The State of Texas isn't making any deals with anyone before legislation has even passed. $.02
 
pmbug said:
I skimmed the transcript. Around 45 to 47 minute mark they talk about the Texas gold backed crypto legislation that is still pending. The guest suggest Kinesis to contact two individuals who are lobbying for the legislation and Kinesis' host says they will reach out to the lobbyists. The Young Pretender (author of the tweet) has misconstrued what was presented in the video IMO. The State of Texas isn't making any deals with anyone before legislation has even passed. $.02
Click to expand...
Kinesis is collaborating very tight with Citizens for Sound Money, which is one of the main sponsors of this legislation at state level all around the USA.
I think Kinesis know already all lobbyists :)
 
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They would need to revalue spot gold in order for the crypto to have practical everyday use.
 
The Kinesis Mint has achieved certification from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

The ISO – an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organisation – awarded the Kinesis Mint the ISO 9001:2015certification, recognising the high quality of Kinesis Mint services and Kinesis Bullion products. Significantly, the certification makes Kinesis Bullion gold and silver products eligible for inclusion in US Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs).

To meet the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS)’s standard for inclusion in IRAs, all bullion products must be manufactured at an approved refinery and adhere to standardised quality requirements and weight specifications.

In achieving ISO 9001 certification, Kinesis Bullion has been recognised for the purity of our rounds and bars, with a minimum fineness of 9999 (gold) and 999 (silver).
Click to expand...

Gold-backed digital currencies and physical gold business by one and the same company
 
I could see depositing physical gold into an account from which to draw currency, but somebody is going to get charged a fee somewhere either for conversion into local currency or when it's stored and/or spent. Just paying the fee to somebody else instead of the banks and Visa/MC/Amex.

They need to go back to physical gold and silver in circulation, but that will not happen in my lifetime.
 
nickndfl said:
They need to go back to physical gold and silver in circulation, but that will not happen in my lifetime.
Click to expand...

As long as we live in a modern society we will never transact as people did 3 centuries ago.
It's impossible to use pieces of pm as everyday currencies in a industrialised society, just think about something as usual as wire transfers. Imagine the costs, risks etc. associated with sending around pieces of gold and silver.
Wishing to a society to go back to physical pm as everyday currency - if this is what you meant - means wishing them to go back to pre-industrialisation.
 
I disagree Peter. We have the technology now to manufacture metal foil notes (Goldbacks) that work as good as fiat paper notes. It's entirely feasible if people have the desire/will. Derivative structures such as electronic checking or payment systems can be built on top of gold denominated accounts just as easily as they do for fiat. Kinesis is a case in point on that issue isn't it?
 
pmbug said:
I disagree Peter. We have the technology now to manufacture metal foil notes (Goldbacks) that work as good as fiat paper notes. It's entirely feasible if people have the desire/will. Derivative structures such as electronic checking or payment systems can be built on top of gold denominated accounts just as easily as they do for fiat. Kinesis is a case in point on that issue isn't it?
Click to expand...
Commander in Chief PMB!
sorry for the delay. If no tag and no Reply sometimes I miss posts addressing me... 😟

Nick wrote physical gold and silver, I thought he was talking about coins and bars (or granules), not about something like Goldbacks.
I understood him as saying that we should go back to using coins and bars, so I replied that gold should leverage on current technology.

In goldbugs circles it's typical to meet a latent distrust in modern - particularly digital - technology when applied to the monetisation of gold.
I interpreted Nick's wordings as an expression of that distrust.
I'm not a gold historian but I think monetary gold has always leveraged on the technology of its time, which is - imo - what many stackers in their skepticism toward modern financial technology fail to recognise.
 
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