The Gold DAO brings gold into the future

The Gold DAO, initiated by DAO.Link, is a groundbreaking project aiming to digitize and democratize the value of gold through blockchain technology. This initiative merges the timeless allure of gold with an innovative method for people worldwide to securely and fairly trade physical gold, bypassing traditional banking systems.

For over 5,000 years, gold has been deeply connected with humanity. It’s not just a metal; it’s timeless, corrosion-resistant, and highly malleable for artisans. Its rarity from deep within the earth adds to its desirability, historically associated with wealth, prestige, and royalty.

Gold symbolizes enduring value and craftsmanship in our collective history. However, its impractical physical weight led to the abandonment of gold as a physical currency.

Web 3.0 and blockchain technology can address this issue and ameliorate the existing solutions. In effect, Gold can be digitized into blockchain-based tokens, making it highly portable and easy to transfer, while mixing the appeal and store of value characteristics of gold with the power of decentralization, transparency, transferability and the security of blockchain technology — a long-anticipated wedding.

That’s where the Gold DAO role takes place.

The Gold DAO, initiated by DAO.Link, builds upon the achievements of the ORIGYN Protocol and Yumi. Leveraging the Internet Computer Protocol(ICP), this collaborative project aims to revolutionize gold’s role in the digital and financial world.

DAO.LINK has collaborated with innovative companies and digital gold pioneers, including the ORIGYN Protocol , Yumi Marketplace, DFINITY Foundation, Bity, Metalor, Loomis, KPMG, and Quantum Agency along with highly skilled individuals. Together, they’re reshaping how we can transact with gold worldwide, making it more accessible and secure for everyone.

The motivations behind the Gold DAO are twofold. First, it aims to create a secure and fully compliant commodity based upon physical gold existing on the blockchain, allowing for a liquid means of exchange, and reaping the benefits of gold while addressing its main drawback: lack of transportability.

Second, it seeks to leverage the security of gold to create a USD-pegged stablecoin as well as, collateralized by digitalized gold — GLDT or directly by GLD-NFT.

The solution’s first and most fundamental properties are security, compliance, and being cross-chain. We ensure security by having the physical gold insured and stored at Loomis and, or Metalor in Switzerland, which is audited quarterly onsite by KPMG. The gold is of 99.99% quality of refinement and is procured by Metalor, a world leader in gold refinement.

We’re harnessing the unique technology of the Internet Computer Protocol(ICP) to establish a Service Nervous System (SNS). The SNS, as the sole private key holder, ensures decentralization, transparency, and project security while preventing malicious actors from disrupting the project or steering it solely towards their own interests. The SNS will be the sole private key holder and the transparency of its mechanism is available to everyone.

This guarantees the project’s continuity, backed by the power of blockchain. Funds raised via the SNS will serve to continue the development of phase 2 and 3 that are mentioned below. Gold DAO SNS holders gain governance tokens (GLDGov), letting them participate in project governance and share in the project’s revenue created by The Gold DAO.

The Gold DAO SNS comprises three phases:

• Phase 1: The primary phase has already been completed by ORIGYN and Yumi. A digital commodity representing secure and audited physical gold in Switzerland. This involves the creation and issuance of GLD-NFTs; NFTs linked to physical gold bars held in a top security storage and identified by a serial number. Technically, these NFTs rely on the ORIGYN protocol, a Real World Assets (RWA) and a next-generation NFT protocol. GLD-NFTs are indexed on the 2nd fixing of London and can represent 1g, 10g, 100g, or 1 kg of gold.
• Phase 2: This phase aims to introduce fungibility to GLD-NFTs, creating a liquid digital gold token known as GLDT. A lack of fungibility and divisibility has hindered the broader use of gold-based NFTs as a medium of exchange, similar to the limitations of pure commodities. The SNS will hold the private key, allowing to push code and update the smart contract operating the GLD-NFTs to GLDT swap, transforming them from non-fungible to fungible assets.GLD-NFTs are securely stored in a smart contract, and the creation rate of GLDT will be directly linked to the value held within that contract. Unlike GLD-NFTs, GLDT is mathematically divisible and can be easily transferred, making it a versatile medium of exchange that derives its value from gold prices.
• Phase 3: In this final phase, the nature of gold as a commodity becomes crucial as it paves the way for the creation of a gold-backed stable-coin pegged to the US dollar — initially, the USDG, gold-backed stable-coins will not only be limited to USD currency in later stages. SNS-collected funds will finance the development of this stablecoin. Phase 3 is the starting point of revenue generation.

The global Tokenomic of the Gold DAO and the USDG stability mechanism have been theorized by Dr. Yulin Liu, a monetary theorist currently serving as the Senior Economic Advisor at ChainLink. He is also a former Chief Economist at Liquity, a Visiting Economist at the Bank of Finland, and an Economics Professor at HUST.

SNS holders of GLDGov within the Gold DAO enjoy multiple advantages. In Phase 3, they receive revenue generated from the stablecoin (Phase 2, a 1 to 1 swap, doesn’t generate fees). These holders actively make decisions regarding gold smart contracts, tokenomics, and project processes. This active participation enhances decentralization and security, fortifying the project against corruption, power centralization, and malicious actors, and ensuring its ongoing operation.

Moreover, holding GLDGov tokens provides indirect exposure to digital gold assets, which can grow in value as the Gold DAO project succeeds. These benefits collectively offer SNS holders financial incentives, a voice in governance, and a stake in this historical DAO project.

Last but not least, the ORIGYN foundation has agreed to provide an incredible donation to ensure the success of The Gold SNS is providing 500 million $OGY tokens. This half-billion $OGY will be staked for 5 years, the staking rewards will be allocated to the SNS GLDGov holders monthly. 50% of it all will be distributed in 5 years. The other 50% will continue to be staked within the SNS, providing revenue to the DAO to support further development. Let’s not forget that $OGY is at the base of the digital gold mechanism described above. Every new gold certificate burns OGY tokens, creating a fully deflationary mechanism as described here.

The whitepaper and the tokenomics will be released very soon on all of our platforms. We welcome questions and comments and are always looking for constructive and intelligent engagement from the community. A special bounty will be dedicated to valuable contributors.

• If you are interested, please get in touch with us with your details here: [email protected]
• A link to all of our platforms: linktr.ee/golddao
• Follow Gold DAO on Twitter: twitter.com/gldrwa
• Join Gold DAO on Telegram: t.me/TheGoldDAO