
The Perth Mint's release of digital gold certificates for trading, holding and transferring physical gold could have profound consequences for the $US98 billion ($122.5 billion) in gold-backed exchange traded funds.
The technology underpinning the digital gold certificates could have other uses such as the clearing and settlement of equities.
At this stage the digitisation of gold ownership by the Perth Mint is only available to institutional investors, such as banks, who can then offer it to retail customers.
But it is likely that the Perth Mint will overcome the difficult regulatory obstacles to direct retail ownership such as the know-your-customer rules and anti-money laundering regulations.
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It is noteworthy that Perth Mint did not opt for a blockchain-related solution to its digitisation of physical gold as happened at the Royal Mint in London.
The Royal Mint partnered with the Chicago-based CME Group to create a product called Royal Mint Gold using technology supplied by BitGo and using a "permissioned blockchain protocol" which restricts those who can validate blockchain transactions.
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The digi.cash technology being used by the Perth Mint allows pre-settled transactions through the creation of digital certificates issued by a central registry.
The Perth Mint exports about $18 billion in gold bullion each year. It also manages more than $3 billion worth of metal held on behalf of 30,000 investors.
Furche said digi.cash was about one month away from finding a solution to the regulatory issues stopping Perth Mint's digital gold certificates being trading on crypto exchanges around the world. The primary regulatory issues are the know-your-customer rules and anti-money laundering laws.
http://www.afr.com/brand/chanticlee...tens-122bn-in-goldbacked-etfs-20180130-h0qeu9