InfiniGold have announced the launch of the Perth Mint Gold Token (PMGT), the first digital gold token on a public blockchain to be backed by government guaranteed gold.
The Perth Mint Gold Token (PMGT) is a digital token backed 1:1 by GoldPass certificates issued by The Perth Mint - the world’s largest refiner of newly-mined gold which is guaranteed by the highly rated sovereign entity, the Government of Western Australia.
“We’re delighted to be working with InfiniGold and offer safe storage for the physical gold we will supply and hold, as our role as custodian through GoldPass certificates,” said The Perth Mint Chief Executive Officer Richard Hayes.
“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 audit-ability of the real assets backing this type of digital token,” concluded Mr Hayes.
PMGT is digitised gold that allows users to conveniently acquire and have entitlement over government guaranteed physical gold stored at The Perth Mint in a trusted and cost-effective way. It offers institutional investors a competitive alternative to traditional gold products such as gold ETFs, with the additional benefits of real-time trading and settlement enabled by blockchain technology.
Digitisation of The Perth Mint’s inventory began in 2018 when GoldPass was launched, where, via a mobile app, investors can instantly and securely buy, sell and transfer physical gold via digital certificates. Each certificate is 100% backed by physical Perth Mint gold stored in its network of central bank grade vaults, with every ounce of gold held in storage guaranteed by the Government of Western Australia.
PMGT, issued by InfiniGold as an ERC-20 compatible asset-backed token, is bringing GoldPass and the physical Perth Mint gold that backs each certificate to the public blockchain. With PMGT, InfiniGold and The Perth Mint are leading the field to transform gold into a multi-billion dollar digital asset.
InfiniGold Chief Executive Officer Andreas Ruf said, “We’ve been looking forward to unveiling PMGT, an exciting result of our collaboration with The Perth Mint - the preeminent precious metals institution in the world. With The Perth Mint as custodian of the underlying physical gold that backs PMGT, buyers will be able to access a secure and reliable token representing the strongest asset class to date – gold.”
PMGT provides a unique alternative to USD-backed stablecoins which have attracted inflows of USD $2.3 billion year-to-date in 2019 and average daily trading volumes in excess of USD $15 billion. 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.
Ernst and Young worked with InfiniGold to perform a findings and recommendations report on the design effectiveness of the procedures and controls over the PMGT platform.
“We chose to proactively work with EY to implement strong procedures and controls around the PMGT platform well before go-live as we know effective management of digital assets risks is critical to our investors and we felt EY were best placed to assist us,” said Mr Ruf.
TCM Capital also advised on the project, with Chief Executive Officer Jon Deane saying, “The involvement of The Perth Mint as the largest refinery in the world and a leading exporter of gold, ensures that the product offers both the scale-ability and credibility that the market clearly needs.”
TCM Capital Chairman Steve Bellotti went on to say, ”InfiniGold’s PMGT is perfectly positioned, via the blockchain, to complement the current institutional gold market.”
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 bars. Subject to final regulatory consultation, this will make PMGT directly trade-able against traditional gold products, including gold ETFs, CME gold futures, and physical XAU.