Royal Mint Gold was a digital gold currency and a cryptocurrency backed by gold reserves in the UK Royal Mint. The Royal Mint began testing blockchain transactions in April 2017.[1][2] The first test transaction was in August 2017.[3] The rollout was originally scheduled to occur by the end of 2017.[4][5] US-based CME Group (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) was tentatively set to administer the trading.[1][5] At the time, The Daily Telegraph said it "appears somewhat similar to an exchange-traded fund such as ETF Securities Physical Gold".[5]

The project collapsed in 2018, when CME pulled out and the UK Royal Mint was hesitant to find a new partner.[6]

Implementation

The blockchain used is the Prova open-source distributed ledger. A proof-of-stake algorithm demonstrates ownership of the physical gold.[7] BitGo provided blockchain code.[8]

Backing gold

The Royal Mint stated, that "All gold is held within the highly secure storage facilities in The Royal Mint's vault and The Royal Mint acts solely as sub-custodian and has no claim on the gold" and that gold delivery would be possible, with additional fabrication fees for amounts less than a London Good Delivery bar (400 oz, worth about US$400,000 on January 31, 2018).[7]

Cancellation

Around October 25, 2018, the UK Government cancelled the Mint's plans to issue cryptocurrency, after a change in management at CME led the group to pull out and left the UK Royal Mint without a trading venue.[9]

References

  1. 1 2 Anna Irrera (April 11, 2017), CME Group, Royal Mint test blockchain-based gold trading platform, Reuters
  2. ↑ "Blockchain could add lustre to gold market", Straits Times, Singapore, August 18, 2017
  3. ↑ Teresa Rivas (November 3, 2017), "Bitcoin $11,000? Expect Blockchain-Based Gold Trading Soon", Barron's
  4. ↑ New currency in race to remake one of world's oldest markets, Bloomberg, August 17, 2017 – via The Economic Times
  5. 1 2 3 James Connington (4 December 2016), "Buy Royal Mint gold using Bitcoin tech - via your Isa firm", The Daily Telegraph, London
  6. ↑ "Wary of crypto, UK government blocks Royal Mint's digital gold". Reuters. 2018-10-26. Retrieved 2020-08-11.
  7. 1 2 FAQ, Royal Mint Gold official website, accessed January 31, 2018
  8. ↑ An Open Source Blockchain, CME, April 11, 2017
  9. ↑ Wary of crypto, UK government blocks Royal Mint's digital gold, Reuters, October 25, 2018

Further reading

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.