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.

So when we invest in gold, it flummoxes me why many people choose to do so with the help of the very system that has created the need to hold safe haven assets e.g. gold and silver. Why place your gold in the custody of a heavily indebted national government?

We like the Royal Mint and their bullion coins, including Gold Sovereigns and Gold Britannias, are some of our best selling gold coins. However, for those looking to own gold for diversification, safe haven and financial insurance purposes it is prudent to opt for owning such bullion coins and bars in allocated and segregated storage in large, stable, creditor nations.

It is unlikely that a blockchain solution will give those Royal Mint users greater automony over their gold. The gold will still be stored in Royal Mint vaults, in the UK and, therefore, the custodian will remain the British Government which is under considerable stress and faces many challenges including Brexit and a massive national debt.

Britain's Royal Mint and leading U.S.-based derivatives exchange CME Group have teamed up to create a blockchain-based digital platform for dealing in gold in a drive to cut the costs involved in trading the precious metal.

The Royal Mint will put gold bars into its on-site secure vault, which will then be digitised to create RMGs whose ownership will be recorded on the blockchain. Traders will then be able to trade in and out of RMGs between themselves.

The platform will operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Unlike the traditional model for investing in gold, with management fees and storage charges, RMGs will offer ownership of the underlying gold with the option for conversion to physical gold by the Royal Mint at zero storage cost.