World Gold Council (WGC) CEO David Tait is confident that there will come a time when it will be unthinkable to buy gold without first checking its origin and integrity on the Gold Bar Integrity programme’s database.
Image credit: suradeach saetang on Unsplash
Tait expressed his confidence while sharing the WGC’s progress in digitalising the gold market at the 2025 London Indaba.
Gold247
He said that when he first joined the WGC, he recognised four major issues in the gold market, all of which stem from distrust, leading him to ask these questions:
- Where could I go to check the integrity of a product?
- Where do I go to learn about and safely access this product?
- Why is gold the product not globally standardised, and why is the gold market not joined up and fungible?
- Who's got responsibility for the industry's future?
“In that context, the WGC set out to solve for integrity, accessibility and fungibility of gold and the gold markets, known as our project, Gold247, a digital transformation initiative designed to instill trust and transparency in gold and its market, and lower the capital costs to entry from the world's investors,” says Tait.
Gold Bar Integrity programme
Additionally, the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) and WGC have partnered to develop and implement an international system of gold bar integrity: the Gold Bar Integrity (GBI) programme.
“GBI aims to put all legitimate gold onto an immutable, Blockchain-based database where buyers will be able to clearly see that the investment bar coin and when technology allows jewellery they purchase was resourced, responsibly, refined, reputable and is only passed through the hands of legitimate actors,” says Tait.
Working alongside Swiss company, aXedras, in developing the database, there has already been progress with 93 of 107 of good delivery list refiners onto the system. Moreover, 33 WGC member large-scale mining (LSM) companies are in the process of adopting the database.
“'I’m pleased to say Sibanye-Stillwater and the Rand Refinery are leading the way with this supply chain handshake, and are setting the example for the rest of the industry to follow.
“This is an ambitious but necessary goal, because as regulatory regimes tighten and investors rightly become more discerning, we must move our industry towards total trust and transparency to compete for capital against other simpler, transparent and trusted asset classes,” Tait says.
Maxwell Akalaare Adombila 2 days Artisanal and small-scale mining
Tait believes that the GBI is not only critical for safeguarding the future of the gold investment market but also in helping to strengthen responsible supply chains, especially concerning artisanal and small-scale mining (ASGM).
“Its scale and value have transformed over the last 25 years, from 4% of total gold production at the turn of the century to 20% against the backdrop of gold surging from $250 to almost $3,500 an ounce.”
With that in mind, he is hopeful that the GBI will help to reduce value of illegally mined gold in the market: “I hope that one day, GBI will not only underpin a more trusted gold investment market, but will also have contributed to helping solve part of the ASGM challenge by minimising the value that illegally produced gold has in the market.”
WGC's three digitalisation strands
The WGC has also introduced three digitalisation strands:
- Wholesale digital gold – a digitised ecosystem for trading and collateralising gold, expected to be operational by year-end.
- The Standard Gold Unit (SGU) – aiming to standardise gold globally and attract new institutional investors.
- Efforts to reclassify gold as a high-quality liquid asset (HQLA) within Basel regulations.
These initiatives aim to transform gold into an active financial asset, enhancing its role in the modern financial system.
"The successful execution of Gold247 project is not merely a matter of technological advancement, but a strategic imperative for securing gold's future opportunity as a vital financial asset.
"These initiatives will ensure that gold remains relevant and influential in the financial markets of tomorrow, driving innovation and stability for generations to come," concludes Tait.
