The Royal Mint is looking to pursue a rather innovative concept in the coming months. For the first time in the 100-year-old institution’s history, they will issue digital gold, recorded on a blockchain. This project will come to fruition through a partnership with CME Group. Digital gold issued by The Royal Mint is expected to become available in 2017.
Digital Gold Is The New Plan For The Royal Mint
In this day and age of digitization and innovative technologies, it was only a matter of time until established institutions started looking into new opportunities. For The Royal Mint, that change is not coming easy, even though they have to get along with the shifting needs and demands. Digital gold products are the top priority for the Royal Mint right now, and they will issue this new commodity at some point in 2017.
Thanks to a partnership with CME Group, the new asset will be known as Royal Mint Gold. A digital record of ownership for precious metal will be created on the blockchain, while the bullion itself is stored in an on-site storage facility. CME Group will take care of the development and implementation of this commodity’s trading platform in the coming months.
The Royal Mint’s Director of New Business David Janczewski stated:
“Distributed ledger technology is a game changer and supplying gold on a blockchain has been on our minds for some time. We’re now inviting the wider market to participate in this project alongside us and CME Group and we look forward to engaging with interested parties in the days ahead.”
Digital gold offers quite a few advantages over the traditional physical spot cost model associated with bullion trades. Management fees and storage charges will be lowered, and eventually removed. At the same time, ever RMG commodity offers full ownership of the bullionn, with an option to convert digital to physical gold by The Royal Mint at no additional cost. Investors will be looking forward to getting their hands on this commodity as soon as possible.
Although an official statement has yet to be released, it is expected as much as US$1bn worth of gold will be made available in digital form. Investment providers across the United Kingdom will offer this new asset to interested parties. Speaking of which, issuance of RMG will be based on market demand, rather than making it all available at once.
Perhaps the most appealing feature of this digital gold project is how it will be made available 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. Since everything is done without the need for middlemen, trading can take place around the clock. An exciting development for blockchain technology, and a worthwhile experiment for The Royal Mint.
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