Dignity Gold, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dignity Holdings, LLC and a leader in cryptocurrency, today announced that through SION Trading FZE, it has hired Bureau Veritas, a world leader in testing, inspection, and certification (TIC) services, to count the gold backing its tokens. SION Trading FZE is supplying the safe keeping receipt (SKR) for the gold that is backing Dignity Gold and has entered into an official agreement with Bureau Veritas to verify and count the gold. Under the supervision of Joseph Chapman, North American Audits Manager, Metals and Minerals Division at Bureau Veritas, company executives in Dubai will be counting the initial $3 billion out of Dignity Gold's 395,000 kilograms of gold provided under the SKR agreement. The first verification will be completed in September 2019.

Arbitrade Ltd. (“Arbitrade”) is pleased to announce December’s shipment of gold from SION Trading FZE (“SION”) has been vaulted and secured in Dubai UAE. SION, procurement agent for Arbitrade, continues to increase its gold holdings through SION’s global mine network, via procurement contracts as mentioned in previous press releases. In addition, SION has provided $250 million in credit to facilitate these purchases on Arbitrade’s behalf.

Advocates of sound money have dreamed of a gold-backed digital currency for many years.

Now, with the advent of blockchain technology, the dream of a viable, gold-backed digital currency is finally coming true. And the potential is enormous. Dozens of gold-backed digital currencies are sprouting up.

In Dubai’s decades-old Gold Souk, customers from around the world haggle over bangles and necklaces. Elsewhere in the emirate, the region’s top center for gold trade, bullion is playing a new role in financial engineering.

A local start-up company founded last year, OneGram, is issuing a gold-backed cryptocurrency — part of efforts to convince Muslims that investing in cryptocurrencies complies with their faith.

The global surge of interest in bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies extends into the Gulf and southeast Asia, the main centers of Islamic finance.

Digital payment systems have ballooned in popularity in India since the government scrapped large-value bank notes in 2016.

Among these offerings are applications that enable smartphone users to buy, sell or store gold - even in small amounts - kept in secured vaults operated by MMTC-PAMP India Pvt Ltd, a joint venture between MMTC Ltd, the largest national trading firm, and Swiss gold refiner PAMP.

The Royal Mint Bullion, the Royal Mint company that sells physical gold, is the first company to allow customers to hold gold-backed assets on Blockchain, Tom Coghill, RMG’s Commercial Lead, stated in an interview with Express.co.uk. Coghill also mentioned that one RMG coin is equal to one gram of gold, adding that “it’s real gold you’re holding when you’re holding our RMG.”

Three versions of the Tiberius coin will be launched, each underpinned by a different investment strategy.

One will include nickel, cobalt and aluminum used to build electric vehicles. Another will be backed by copper, tin, zinc, metals used in high-tech sectors such as robotics.

A third will include precious metals gold, platinum and palladium, which are used as hedges against inflation and financial and economic uncertainty.

The world’s oldest currency is being brought into the digital age with the launch of a debit card and app that will allow people to pay for goods in gold.

Fintech group Glint has teamed up with Lloyds Banking Group in the UK and MasterCard to create an app that enables people to load credit in various currencies, which can then be used to buy a portion of a physical gold bar. Customers use the app at the checkout to select whether to pay in a currency or gold, before transacting with their MasterCard.

The company behind Paytm, One97 Communications on April 17 launched its first wealth management product aimed at middle/ lower middle-class Indians. The product named 'Digital Gold' allows users to buy, store and sell gold on its platform.

"The fundamental idea behind digital gold was to bring wealth management to the common man such as a chaiwallah or auto rickshaw driver who loves gold," Vijay Sharma said in an interview with BloombergQuint.