New Currency in Race to Remake One of World’s Oldest Markets
- Using bitcoin’s blockchain ledgers as template for gold trades
- Bid to make $27 billion of bullion buying faster, more secure
Gold bullion bars sit following casting at the Rand Refinery Ltd. plant in Germiston, South Africa, on Wednesday, Aug. 16. 2017. Established by the Chamber of Mines of South Africa in 1920, Rand Refinery is the largest integrated single-site precious metals refining and smelting complex in the world, according to their website.
Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/BloombergThe blockchain revolution is gunning for the gold market.
Public online ledgers that emerged from the explosive markets for bitcoin, a virtual currency, already have drawn the attention of businesses from banks to retailers who see blockchain systems as a revolutionary way to verify and record transactions. Now, companies including exchange owner CME Group Inc., IEX Group Inc. spinoff TradeWind Markets and financial technology firm Paxos are rolling out similar platforms to bring gold into the digital age.