London, March 19, 2026 – The World Gold Council today announced a groundbreaking initiative to build a new shared infrastructure for the digital gold market, aiming to usher in a new era for digital gold development.
Concurrently, the World Gold Council, in collaboration with Boston Consulting Group (BCG), jointly authored and released a whitepaper titled "Digital Gold: The Case for a Shared Infrastructure." The paper introduces the concept of "Gold as a Service" – a new platform designed to support the issuance and operation of scalable, interoperable digital gold products.
"Gold as a Service" will function as an open platform, connecting physical gold custodianship with digital issuance management systems for gold-backed products. By standardizing core market processes such as custody coordination, reconciliation and settlement, compliance review, and redemption, this model aims to reduce operational complexity, improve access to gold, and enhance consistency across different digital gold products.
Addressing Structural Barriers in Digital Gold
The whitepaper notes that gold has already undergone a significant digital transformation: trading, clearing, and record-keeping are largely electronic, and digital gold products are increasingly diverse. However, the scaling of digital gold remains constrained, primarily due to structural limitations. The issuance and operation of digital gold products remain complex, with limited standardization and reduced tradability, making it difficult for them to integrate effectively with the modern financial system.
"Gold as a Service" is positioned as a solution to these challenges. The model is grounded in gold's physical attributes and aims to modernize its integration with the digital financial ecosystem, while preserving the fundamental properties that have long underpinned its role and value.
Key features of the "Gold as a Service" platform include:
● Seamless Product Issuance and Management: Simplifies the creation, issuance, and ongoing management of digital gold products through standardized infrastructure and operational models, thereby lowering operational complexity.
● Trading Facilitation: Enhances the tradability of digital gold through standardized processes, allowing it to function as a single asset within the ecosystem with consistent value attributes and legal rights.
● Embedded Trust and Attestation: Incorporates continuous reconciliation, audit, and attestation mechanisms within the shared infrastructure, providing unified proof of physical gold backing, clear ownership definition, and a redemption framework to strengthen market confidence in digital gold.
● Interoperability by Design: Supports the smoother integration of digital gold products into existing financial market infrastructures and emerging digital networks, enhancing their liquidity across platforms, venues, and application scenarios.
● Broader Applications: With increased tradability and liquidity, digital gold has the potential to move beyond traditional diversification and store-of-value functions to become deployable capital, fostering new use cases such as gold-collateralized lending.
David Tait, Chief Executive Officer of the World Gold Council, stated: "Financial services are undergoing a rapid and extensive digital transformation. Gold must evolve to maintain its position within the global financial system. The 'Gold as a Service' platform is the latest initiative under the World Gold Council's digital gold innovation program, designed to enhance trust, transparency, and market efficiency. Building a shared infrastructure will help make gold more accessible, easier to trade, and fully integrated into the modern financial system, ensuring this asset remains relevant and valuable in the future."
Matthias Tauber, Managing Director and Senior Partner at Boston Consulting Group, added: "The discussion around gold's digitalization has shifted from 'if' to 'how' it can connect to the modern financial system without compromising its physical integrity. We look forward to collaborating with the World Gold Council to explore how to build a trusted, scalable digital gold network."
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