Emergent Technology Holdings LP (EmTech) has created a blockchain-powered supply chain platform that tracks gold, from a mine to a storage facility. The company has also developed a digital currency, G-Coin that is backed by gold.
Gold on The Blockchain
Emtech’s blockchain-powered, gold supply chain platform – The Responsible Gold Supply Chain tracks “responsibly sourced gold from the miner-to-refiner-to-vault.” As reported by PYMNTS, the company’s target is to transform the current gold supply chain process, to ensure only the supply of gold mined in conformance to industry, environmental, legal and human rights standards.
According to the company’s website, they have identified the risks and implemented necessary controls to ensure all gold on the blockchain platform is conflict-free, offering clients a new vehicle for ethical investment.
Commenting on the company’s conviction to deal only in “responsibly sourced gold”, Chief Commercial Officer Mitch Davis said:
There are a lot of players participating in the gold supply chain, and you need to provide buyers – whether they are investors, individuals, institutions or manufacturers – with an absolute guarantee that the gold is responsibly sourced.
Throughout the supply chain, process gold will be tracked using a cryptographic seal. These seals will be scanned with an Android device to create a private and public key. These keys will be added to an immutable and fully auditable blockchain.
Emtech’s blockchain solution is a two-part system consisting of the Responsible Gold Supply Chain Platform and the G-Coin.
G-Coin is a digital token developed by Emtech to represent gold in the company’s ecosystem digitally. These digital tokens will serve as a sort of certificate of title for physical gold.
The company has partnered with key industry players like Valcambi Sa, Asahi Refining and Yamana Gold to structure its G-Coin tokens so that the value of each coin is equal to a gram of gold.
Blockchain Companies in the Gold Market
EmTech is not the only technology provider to enter into the gold market. In March, Bloomberg reported that TradeWind Markets Inc. launched a digital trading and settlement platform called VaultChain that aims to simplify trading of the precious metal and minimize transaction costs.
The New York-based company believes that digitizing the gold trade will reduce transaction costs and create more liquidity in the market.
The company’s CEO Peter Grosskopf believes that the merging of blockchain and the gold trade is a powerful incentive that could see gold supplant cryptocurrency as a form of digital currency.
Blockchain Powering Real World Utilities Beyond Finance
For a long time blockchain was synonymous with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Cryptocurrencies or digital currencies are just one of the many applications of blockchain technology. Beyond powering digital currencies in the finance sector, blockchain has found use in other industries including healthcare.
Last month, Taipei Medical University Hospital launched an online healthcare platform powered by blockchain technology. The online platform was developed to improve record-keeping among medical institutions in the country.
Blockchain enthusiasts believe that the technology will revolutionize how business is done, creating greater efficiency, reducing manipulation and security breaches. Participants in the various sectors that have found blockchain application will be watching to see if this is true.
