World Gold Council outlines shared system for digital gold

Mon Mar 23 2026

The World Gold Council has announced that it has introduced a proposal to build shared infrastructure for digital gold, setting out a model that seeks to standardize how gold-backed digital products are issued, managed, and traded. The initiative, developed in collaboration with Boston Consulting Group, centers on a concept described as “Gold as a Service,” which would connect physical gold custody with digital financial systems.

The proposal arrives at a time when digital representations of traditional assets are expanding across financial markets, yet gold has remained only partially integrated into these systems. While trading, clearing, and recordkeeping have largely shifted to electronic formats, digital gold products such as tokens still operate within fragmented frameworks, limiting scale and interoperability.

The World Gold Council said the new model would address these constraints by introducing shared processes for custody coordination, reconciliation, compliance, and redemption. The aim is to create consistency across digital gold products while maintaining the physical backing that underpins gold’s role in financial markets.

What is the “Gold as a Service” model?

The proposed system is designed as an open infrastructure layer that supports the lifecycle of digital gold products. Under this framework, institutions could issue and manage gold-backed instruments through standardized processes rather than building separate operational structures for each product.

The model would include mechanisms to simplify issuance and management, allowing digital gold products to be created and maintained with reduced operational complexity. It would also introduce continuous reconciliation and audit processes, intended to verify that digital claims remain matched to physical gold holdings.

Another component of the proposal is the standardization of trading and redemption frameworks. By aligning how digital gold products are structured and redeemed, the system seeks to increase fungibility, allowing different products to function as equivalent representations of the same underlying asset.

The World Gold Council stated that interoperability is a central objective. The infrastructure would be designed to connect with existing financial systems as well as emerging digital rails, enabling digital gold to move across platforms, venues, and use cases more easily than current models allow.

David Tait, Chief Executive Officer of the World Gold Council, commented, “Financial services are undergoing a rapid and pervasive digital transformation and gold must also evolve to maintain its role in the global financial system. Gold as a Service is the latest step in the World Gold Council’s digital gold innovation programme, designed to strengthen trust, transparency and market efficiency. Shared infrastructure can help gold become more accessible, more easily traded and fully integrated into modern financial systems — ensuring it remains as relevant tomorrow as it has been for millennia.”

Why has digital gold struggled to scale?

The white paper accompanying the announcement points to structural issues rather than a lack of demand. Digital gold products already exist in multiple forms, including exchange-traded instruments and tokenized representations, yet they operate within disconnected systems. This fragmentation reduces liquidity and limits the ability of these products to function as interchangeable assets.

Operational complexity has also acted as a constraint. Issuers often need to coordinate custody, legal structures, compliance processes, and redemption mechanisms independently, creating barriers to entry and limiting the number of participants able to operate at scale. These challenges can also increase costs, which may be passed on to end users.

The absence of standardized frameworks has further reduced integration with broader financial infrastructure. Without consistent processes and legal definitions, digital gold products may face difficulties interacting with trading venues, collateral systems, and settlement networks that expect uniform asset characteristics.

Matthias Tauber, Managing Director and Senior Partner at Boston Consulting Group, commented, “The question is no longer whether gold will be digital, it’s how it can participate in modern financial systems without compromising physical integrity. Together with the World Gold Council, we explored what it takes to build trusted rails for digital gold, at market scale.”

The proposal attempts to address these limitations by introducing a shared layer that reduces duplication across issuers while maintaining alignment with the physical nature of gold. By doing so, it seeks to position digital gold as a more functional component of modern financial systems rather than a niche or parallel market.

What could this mean for gold’s role in financial markets?

If implemented, the proposed infrastructure could expand how gold is used within financial markets. Improved fungibility and standardized processes may increase liquidity, making digital gold products easier to trade and integrate into portfolios. This could strengthen gold’s position not only as a store of value but also as an asset that can be deployed more actively.

The ability to use gold as collateral is one of the potential applications highlighted in the proposal. If digital gold can move seamlessly across platforms and maintain consistent legal and operational characteristics, it may be used in lending, margining, and other financial activities where standardized assets are required.

The initiative also reflects broader trends in asset tokenization, where traditional assets are represented digitally to improve efficiency and accessibility. However, gold presents unique challenges due to its physical nature and the importance of custody and verification. Any system that seeks to scale digital gold must reconcile these physical constraints with the requirements of digital financial infrastructure.

The World Gold Council has indicated that it will seek participation from market participants and technology providers to develop the proposed system. The outcome will likely depend on whether industry stakeholders adopt shared standards and whether the infrastructure can achieve sufficient scale to deliver the intended benefits.

While the proposal outlines a pathway toward greater integration, it does not guarantee adoption. Market participants may weigh the benefits of standardization against the loss of control over proprietary systems or product structures. As with other infrastructure initiatives in financial markets, coordination across institutions will be a determining factor.

Takeaway

The World Gold Council’s proposal signals an attempt to move digital gold from fragmented products toward a standardized market structure. If adopted, shared infrastructure could increase liquidity and expand use cases, but success will depend on industry participation and alignment on common standards.

Source: https://financefeeds.com/