Author – Kate, Australia
Gold-backed cryptocurrencies are very much in its infancy stage with only about 11 currently available either in their pre-ICO, upcoming pre-ICO, ICO, or upcoming ICO stage. However, interest in this area is growing rapidly with Australia’s largest precious metal refinery, Perth Mint announcing in early January 2018 plans to develop its own gold-backed cryptocurrency with launch dates expected from early to mid 2019. Their CEO, Richard Hayes strongly believes that there is a strong opportunity in offering investors less volatile cryptocurrencies hence the decision in offering a gold-backed cryptocurrency. This gives the gold-backed cryptocurrency a tangible value unlike most cryptocurrencies such as the likes of Bitcoin and Ethereum that relies on intangible value, which is the blockchain technology itself.
Australia’s gold-backed cryptocurrency by Perth Mint is not an entirely novel idea as the UK’s Royal Mint has announced more than a year ago its decision to launch its own gold-back cryptocurrency, Royal Mint Gold (RMG). Test transactions has already been completed as of August 2017 with more than 50,000 blocks being verified but it is still not ready for ICO yet. This is done in collaboration with CME Group based in Chicago and startup BitGo based in California. Senior strategic marketing manager of the Royal Mint, Nicola Robinson believes that the blockchain can improve the management of the gold commodity through increased liquidity and lowered barrier to entry for potential investors.
The gold-backed cryptocurrency does create a compelling argument as the value of the coin will always at its lowest equate to its current value in grams of gold. If the gold-backed cryptocurrency does become popular, its value can become greater than its value in grams of gold and interesting profit margins can be made here. As one of the first gold-based cryptocurrency to be launched, Xaurum is considered the “blue chip of crypto” and has been listed as one of the top 5 cryptocurrencies to look out for in 2018 by Forbes. With this proverbial gold rush, due diligence is extremely necessary when evaluating the accountability of the gold storage and ensuring that you actually do own the gold. It is easy to get confused when researching on gold-based cryptocurrencies as there are many cryptocurrencies that sounds gold-related but is in fact not at all related such as Bitcoin Gold (BTG) or even Ethereum Gold (ETG) that does not explain how its value is actually based in relation to the value of gold.
