Gold has always been considered a safe haven by consumers. Whether it’s to diversify a portfolio or to combat inflation, this precious metal has long been recognized for providing stability to investors.
However, accessing gold is not without its challenges. Traditional methods each have their own disadvantages (storage costs, counterfeit risks, etc.).
This is where GLDNFT comes in, a platform that aims to revolutionize the way people access gold. By using blockchain technology, GLDNFT offers a solution that combines the benefits of buying gold bullion while mitigating many of its drawbacks.
This article is brought to you in collaboration with GLDNFT (learn more)
What is GLDNFT
GLDNFT, which stands for “Gold NFT,” is a service that allows you to buy gold in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Specifically, GLDNFT offers you a way to own real gold bullion without physically holding it yourself. The service allows you to acquire NFTs that are directly linked to gold bars stored in highly secure vaults in Switzerland.
In other words, GLDNFT has created an ecosystem where each NFT acts as a digital certificate of authenticity. As soon as you own a GLDNFT, you are the sole and exclusive owner of the physical gold bar that the NFT represents.
Note that all gold bars have a purity of 99.99% and are certified Good Delivery by LBMA.
Furthermore, not only are these certificates linked to physical gold bars, but they also contain technical information about them (unique serial number, dimensions, weight, etc.).
But that’s not all, because using the power of blockchain, GLDNFT is able to offer a secure and transparent transaction environment. While this may seem “basic” in the world of cryptocurrencies, it is an advantage that is not usually found in the traditional world of storing precious metals like gold.
Finally, note that GLDNFT is the result of a collaboration between several actors including, but not limited to, Metalor, ORYGIN, and the YUMI marketplace, with the aim of democratizing access to gold. Currently, these NFTs are exclusively sold on the YUMI marketplace, but we’ll discuss this in more detail in a dedicated section.
Why Choose NFTs for Buying Gold Bars
Gold has always been a safe haven for investors, and there are several traditional methods to access this precious metal. These include ETFs (exchange-traded funds), physical purchase of bars or coins, and futures contracts:
- ETFs: Exchange-traded funds replicate the price of a reference stock index. However, in the case of gold or any other commodity, they do not give you actual ownership of the underlying asset.
- Physical purchase: Owning physical gold can be reassuring, but it involves storage and insurance costs, or security risks if you prefer to store your bars at home.
- Futures contracts: Futures allow you to speculate on the future price of gold, but they can be complex and risky for inexperienced investors.
So, why consider buying gold bars in the form of NFTs as a viable alternative? Here are a few reasons:
The Advantages of Buying GLDNFT:
- Unfalsifiable ownership: As we’ve seen, each NFT acts as a unique ownership certificate, directly linking you to the physical bars. This eliminates the risk of counterfeiting, a problem that can arise with physical gold.
- Quality: Another aspect that sets apart buying gold bars via NFTs is the guaranteed quality of the metal offered by the company. GLDNFT partners with “METALOR,” a Swiss gold refiner in the industry since 1852. METALOR is responsible for supplying the gold bars, and the Swiss supplier is known for meeting the highest standards of purity and quality.
- Accessibility: Unlike physical gold, which requires secure storage, sometimes even in specialized banks, NFTs eliminate these costs and complications. Moreover, the YUMI platform makes the purchase and management of these NFTs particularly simple, even for novice users.
- Flexibility: NFTs can be easily bought, sold, or traded, offering a certain freedom that traditional methods cannot always guarantee.
ORYGIN – A Key Role in the Certification of Gold Bars
If you have followed along so far, you know that GLDNFTs are certificates directly linked to real gold bars. But who are the originators of these famous digital certificates?
Well, this is where ORIGYN, a foundation dedicated to the creation of biometric certificates, comes into play. The company plays a crucial role in the authentication and ownership of gold bars in the GLDNFT project.
Concretely, ORIGYN’s certification technology allows physical objects to be linked to digital data (documents, technical information, multimedia, etc.) stored on the blockchain. As a result, this data cannot be falsified or lost. Note that ORIGYN certificates can store up to 3.5 GB of data.
As part of the GLDNFT project, each certificate includes images of the gold bar, its unique serial number, technical information about its weight, purity, dimensions, and hardness, as well as an audit of the stocks conducted by a specialized audit firm (Big Four).
How to Buy GLD NFTs
As we mentioned at the beginning of the article, GLDNFTs are currently only available for purchase on Yumi, a marketplace developed on the Internet Computer network. However, the team is open to listing the NFTs on other marketplaces in the future.
Here is the process to follow to acquire your first GLDNFT:
To start, you need to go to the Yumi marketplace and connect your digital wallet. Make sure you have a wallet compatible with the Internet Computer network and that you have ICP tokens in it.
Since you are actually buying physical gold, you will have to go through a Know Your Customer (KYC) verification process. Once the process is complete, go to the dedicated GLDNFT certificates page: https://yumi.io/gold
Once on the page, you will see a whole list of gold bars, each with its own unique characteristics. To optimize your search, you can choose to display only bars of a certain weight (1g, 10g, 100g, and 1kg), or sort them by price. Note that to date, the cheapest GLDNFT is available for 23.49 ICP, or about 71 dollars.
Once you have made your choice, you can click on the bar to learn more about it. You will find many technical details, such as its on-chain activity, properties (weight, dimensions, etc.), or its price in dollars.
Then simply click “Buy Now” to proceed with the purchase and confirm the transaction from your wallet.
Once the purchase is complete, the NFT will be accessible directly from the same wallet. You can of course trade or sell it at any time.
Note: it is important not to lose your password and recovery phrase, as this would result in the loss of your GLD NFT and all other tokens in your wallet.
GLDNFT – An Excellent Alternative to Access Gold
In conclusion, GLDNFT offers an innovative approach to acquiring gold. By using blockchain technology to link physical bars to digital certificates, the project provides a very interesting alternative to traditional methods.
You no longer have to worry about the costs, risks, and complications associated with buying and storing physical gold, or the complexity of financial markets.
Learn More About the GLDNFT Project:
- GLDNFT on the Yumi Marketplace: https://yumi.io/gold
- Official GLDNFT Whitepaper: link to the whitepaper
- ORIGYN Foundation’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/ORIGYNTech
