Joe Cavatoni, global sales director and regional CEO of the World Gold Council (WGC), said the gold industry is integrating with blockchain technology to “help standardize the industry reporting Cavatoni explained on Friday that he believes it will “methodize the Gold Bar Integrity Programme (GBI) of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) and the WGC, an “international system of gold bar integrity, chain of custody and provenance.” He spoke of the objective of the program.
The Gold Bar Integrity Initiative helps investors “feel secure in knowing where their gold comes from”
Joe Cavatoni, head of global sales and regional CEO of theWorld Gold Council (WGC)in arecent interviewpublished Friday he discussed the gold market. Cavatoni spoke of gold’s use in a variety of products, which has helped drive demand for the precious yellow metal.
He highlighted that one of the industrial uses of gold is cancer treatment, with gold being a component of products like the iPhone and iPad.24} Older nanoparticles are also utilized inphotothermal therapywhich is often used to kill cancer cells.
Cavatoni is also a member of the Gold Bar Integrity Programme (GBI) of the WGC, the WGC andalso spoke about the distributed ledger concept supported by the LBMAwhich is a distributed ledger concept supported by the LBMA. GBI will be officially launched in March 2022 and is intended to leverage blockchain technology created by distributed ledger companiesandAccedrus
and
Peer Leisure
Cavatoni believes that GBI technology will help monitor gold trading, gold quality, CoC, and sourcing; Cavatoni hopes for “a kind of blockchain database building to help the industry standardize reporting.” The idea is to track and trace the integrity of gold bars all the way back to procurement, so that people can feel good and secure in knowing where their money came from.”
The GBI project is an LBMA and WGC effort, but Cavatoni said that “a group of organizations” are planning to use the GBI program and tools. When the blockchain program was first announced, LBMA CEO Ruth Crowell explained that wholesale international trading “relies on trust for physical gold.”
Crowell argued that the Gold Bar Integrity initiative is a watershed moment for the precious metals sector. At the time, Crowell said, “This is a major step forward in promoting transparency for the common good of the gold industry.” Cavatoni said in an interview Friday that “the (gold) industry needs to be trusted by those who want to be part of it.”
“If trust is an impediment to the spread of gold, because some people feel that off-grid is a better way than on-grid, we would rather embrace trust and transparency and grow the industry in a legitimate way and make it better,” Cavatoni said. WGC’s head of global sales and regional CEO added, “What we are doing does not preclude anyone from simply receiving physical gold.”
Axedras’ Bullion Integrity Ledger and Peer Ledger’s MIMOSI Connect
In March, the LBMA and WGC stated that the initial phase would demonstrate both Axedras’ and Peer Ledger’s technologies; a look at Axedras’ website shows that the company has its own blockchain calledBullion Integrity Ledger (BIG) Bullion Integrity Ledger (BIL).
The BIL network is a “member-based platform for peer-to-peer exchanges” and claims to be decentralized and secure. The Accedrus web portal notes that “[BIL] allows its members to share information according to this uniform data standard and to record the results of business transactions in an immutable and auditable manner.”
Peer Leisure’s website states that it “uses blockchain technology to solve environmental, social, and governance issues in global supply chains.” The company offers MIMOSI Connect, which “provides companies with a reliable and immutable record of transactions, documents, and metrics across the supply chain to support responsible supply chain management and due diligence.”
Besides Cavatoni’s comments last week about the group of organizations using GBI, the LBMA and WGC have already listed a number of companies participating in GBI. The companies listed include CME Group, Barrick Gold Corporation, Brinks, Centerra Gold Inc, Algor Heraeus SA, Asahi, Aura Mineral Inc, Persmint, Pro Aurum, Land Refinery, Royal Canadian Mint and Standard Chartered, among others.
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