Turkey's Istanbul Clearing, Settlement and Custody Bank (Takasbank) announced that its blockchain-based, physical gold-backed transfer system is now live.

Turkish Takasbank launched BiGA Digital Gold to provide banks with a blockchain-based system for the issuance, repayment and transfer of digitized gold,

As the rise of digital assets allows swifter movement of capital, investors now have an alternative asset to buying physical gold: digital gold.

James Turk is widely respected as one of the true legends of the gold market, with over 40 years in the business. In conversation with Grant Williams, James looks back on his career, which is entwined with the modern history of gold, examining the potential for the next break to the upside and what comes next when empires of money end

Imagine a gold product - with characteristics of physical gold and gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs), as well as the 24/7 nature and security of the bitcoin network. That was the aim of three firms behind the DGLD token

With PAX Gold, a digital token on the Ethereum blockchain, representing a physical amount of gold held in the vaults of London-based Brink, Nexo now offers gold investors instant access to their gold wealth in over 45 fiat currencies via same/next day transfers and across 200+ jurisdictions.

True to its innovative DNA, Nexo will be adding PAX Gold for its ‘Earn Interest’ product that will pay up to 8% per year of interest on gold, debunking the century-old stigma that “gold does not pay dividends”. This value proposition makes Nexo the only financial institution in the world to pay interest on gold in kind.

A U.K. startup that promised to allow people to pay for goods in gold has collapsed, dealing a blow to its backers including Conservative MP Steve Baker, who had promoted the company on Twitter.

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.