In 2017 the price of Bitcoin reached parity with gold (by ounce) which grabbed the attention of gold investors around the world. With the current Bitcoin mania there has been a surge in interest with the concept of gold-backed cryptocurrencies.

The idea of a gold digital currency has always had an appeal for those looking for an alternative payment system. Not long after the internet went mainstream E-Gold emerged as first digital currency backed entirely by gold in 1995. At its peak, millions of people around the world were using this service until it was shut down.

Other attempts to make a digital gold currency were also made, but this was before the age of Bitcoin and Blockchain technology.

Now with Blockchain established as a secure accounting method, and with Bitcoin becoming better known to the general public, a new era of gold-backed cryptocurrency is emerging. There is a proverbial (or is it a literal) gold rush happening now in the crypto world, and even countries are looking to issue their own gold-based cryptocurrency.

The basic concept is certainly compelling. A token or coin is issued that represents a value of gold (for example 1 gram of gold equals 1 coin). The gram of gold is stored by the coin issuer, and can be traded with other coin holders.

At a minimum the price of the coin will always the current gold rate. If the if cryptocurrency becomes popular then the price of the coin can potentially increase in value, greater than the value of gold. If the cryptocurrency doesn’t take off then the value remains as the value of the gram of gold.

There of course many risks as well. While the blockchain accounts for the coins, accounting for physical stored gold is another matter. In this regard we look to our online gold buying partner, BullionVault as the standard for accountable gold storage.

Some of the cryptocurrencies listed here don’t detail how they store and account for gold either, so proceed with caution.

Gold-Backed Cryptocurrency Directory

This is a current list of gold-backed cryptocurrency. This is a directory and not an editorial endorsement, so research all of the alternatives before investing.

If you are looking to buy gold online open an account at BullionVault.

CryptoGLD

Name: CryptoGLD (CrGLD)
Location: 16192 Coastal Highway, Lewes, Delaware, USA.
Website: cryptogld.com

CryptoGLD is a cryptocurrency 100% backed by gold. 10,000,000 coins are backed by 100,000 ounces of gold. The gold is from Citigold’s gold reserves, so it is not allocated gold, rather it is a first mortgage registered over the available gold reserves (up to 100,000 ounces).

DigixGlobal

Name: DigixGlobal (DGX)
Location: 32 Carpenter Street, Singapore.
Website: digix.global

DigixGlobal tokenizes gold on Ethereum with 1 DGX representing 1 gram of gold in Digix’s vault. DGX tokens can only be created if someone purchases and store gold at Digix’s custodian, which has gone through the Proof of Asset Protocol.

DinarDirham

Name: DinarDirham (DNC)
Location: Hong Kong.
Website: dinardirham.com

DinarDirham was founded in Southeast Asia and is headquartered in Hong Kong. It connects actual gold to crypto tokens on blockchains. DinarDirham doesn’t hold or control gold or DinarCoin or Smart Gold Contract. Instead all gold assets issued in DinarDirham is bridged to the liquidity provider.

Gold Cryptocurrency

Name: Gold Cryptocurrency (GOLDC)
Location: ?
Website: goldcryptocurrency.org

This gold-based online currency is still in development so you can follow the progress at github.

Goldmint

Name: GoldMint (MNTP)
Location: Moscow, Russia.
Website: goldmint.io

GoldMint is blockchain based platform which operates with 100% gold-backed cryptoassets, either gold or exchange-traded funds (ETF). The GoldMint platform is built on a private blockchain, based on the Graphene technology. There is no mention of where the gold is stored, or indeed what percentage is physical gold.

OneGram

Name: OneGram Coin (OGC)
Location: 2E MO17 East Side, DAFZ, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Website: onegram.org

Each OneGram Coin (OGC) is backed by one gram of gold and is Sharia-compliant. Gold is held in vaults located within Dubai Airport’s high-security compound, and managed by OneGram’s partner GoldGuard – a Dubai-based gold trading company.

There is a maximum of 12,400,786 OGC available, and unsold coins will be permanently destroyed after the Initial Coin Offering.

Orocrypt

Name: Orocrypt (OROC)
Location: Löwenstrasse 28, CH-8021 Zurich, Switzerland.
Website: orocrypt.com

Orocrypt have 1,112,000 tokens in total, with each gold token representing 30g of LMBA-compliant gold. A total of 45% was offered for sale, and the balance held by founders and for employee incentives. The gold is stored in four locations, with monthly inspections conducted by SGS.

OZcoinGold

Name: OZcoinGold (OzGLD)
Location: ?
Website: ozgld.com

OzGLD is a cryptocurrency that is 100% backed by gold. There is a limit set of 10 million coins for 100,000 ounces of gold. You can buy OzGLD by registering your a free wallet and paying with Ether (ETH).

A press release states that “each 100 OZcoinGold coins is backed by 1/3 gold bullion stored in the Perth Mint and 2/3 gold reserves held by Ozcoin Inc, to be delivered to Perth Mint by March 2022. The verification of the gold certificates is uploaded to the block chain in the name of OZcoin Inc.”

There is no mention on the Perth Mint site, and no physical contact details on the website.

Royal Mint Gold

Name: Royal Mint Gold (RMG)
Location: London, England.
Website: rmg.royalmint.com

The Royal Mint, has teamed up with CME Group (the derivatives marketplace) to offer bullion on the blockchain. Royal Mint Gold (RMG) is real gold, stored in The Royal Mint vault, and traded on a digital trading platform provided by CME Group. It will be available through third party investment intermediaries such as banks and brokers.

Xaurum

Name: Xaurum (XAUR)
Location: ?
Website: xaurum.org

Xaurum is coined by exchanging the mined value for physical gold, stored as the CommonWealth gold reserves. It was first coined on a PoS Blackcoin blockchain, and has transitioned to Ethereum.

ZenGold

Name: ZenGold (ZGC)
Location: China.
Website: zengold.org

ZenGold will issue 100,000,000 ZGC tokens with an ICO of 63% of total supply, with the balance held for founders and other incentives.

This cryptocurrency is backed by physical gold but there is no mention of how this is accounted for or where it’s stored. The only contact is via a Chinese email address.

More To Come

There are more gold-backed cryptocurrencies being developed, so we will add them here as they become known. If you know of any others, or if you have had experience buying any, leave a comment.