Goldmoney, the gold-based savings and payments network, has launched a new platform which allows users to purchase gold held in the Royal Canadian Mint’s vault with the transaction recorded on a private Blockchain. Buyers pay a fee of 0.5% and as an added bonus enjoy free storage for up to 1,000 grams of the precious metal.
Josh Crumb, co-founder and chief strategy officer of Goldmoney explains:
“We were fairly early Blockchain enthusiasts and we have always been very interested in the principles of Blockchain technology. So what we did was build a platform covering what the gold industry calls the chain of integrity which verifies the movement, price and settlement of gold. Essentially, it confirms that the gold exists for the customer.”
Goldmoney spent three years building its private Blockchain, led by Chief Technology Officer, Alessandro Premoli. Premoli was an early member of the Blockchain community, a consultant for Ripple and is a regular contributor to open source projects.
“We’re excited to join the Goldmoney Network and offer Goldmoney and its Network users highly secure storage services at our vaults in Ottawa,” said John Moore, Vice-President of sales at the Royal Canadian Mint. “We also look forward to working with Goldmoney on future marketing initiatives that demonstrate Canada’s leadership role in the global precious metal industry.”
Goldmoney offers a range of transaction services, including the buying, selling, trading and redeeming of physical allocated gold. It works in a similar way to Bitcoin in one sense as a transfer of value. Members can buy the precious metal and transfer the title to other members by email or text message. The recipient can then redeem the value of the gold to a bank account in their native currency or even to a Goldmoney Mastercard. The transaction takes place within a day and at a cost of 1%.