Australia’s Biggest Gold Refiner Plans Gold-Backed Cryptocurency

Major Australian precious metals refinery, the
Perth Mint, is developing its own gold-backed
cryptocurrency in a bid to lure consumers back
to investing in gold.
With a capacity of processing over 700 tons of
gold per year, the Perth Mint is Australia’s
biggest gold refiner. A heightened exodus of
investors turning to new alternative investments
in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin in recent years
has spurred the refiner into – ironically – offering
its own cryptocurrency wrestle some attention
back to precious metals.
The company is in the process of developing a
yet-untitled cryptocurrency backed by gold that
would also be used for buying and selling
crypto-gold on a blockchain, according to ABC
News.
Speaking to the publication, chief executive
Richard Hayes highlighted a “massive flow of
funds into the likes of Bitcoin” as investors veer
away from traditional safe haven assets. A gold-
backed cryptocurrency traded on a blockchain,
he argued, has its own merits.
He stated:
“So it will have all the benefits of something that
is on a distributed ledger that settles very, very
quickly, that is easy to trade, but is actually
backed by precious metals, so there is actually
something behind it, something backing it.”
Further, the executive also stressed that the
company was interested in implementing
blockchain technology into its own operators. A
possible application could see the entire supply
chain of a gold bullion traced from the mining
site through to its sale to a consumer – traced
and logged in an immutable, transparent
blockchain.
The refiner’s foray into cryptocurrency and
blockchain technology comes over a year after
the UK Treasury announced its own ‘ digitized
gold offering’ where consumers will be able to
buy, hold and sell gold instantly over a
blockchain through a digital token dubbed Royal
Mint Gold (RMG). The blockchain trading
platform was co-developed by bitcoin startup
BitGo, facilitating trades of $1 billion in gold
bars reserved at the Royal Mint’s vaults near
Cardiff, Wales.
Ultimately, Perth Mint sees the offering as yet
another platform for selling gold. “We certainly
try to make it easier and easier, within reason,
for people to access precious metals,” Hayes
added. “This would just be another way for them
to do it.”
The executive expects the gold backed
cryptocurrency tokens to be offered at some
point in the next 12 to 18 months.