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Perth Mint are planning to capitalise on the success of bitcoin
Richard Hayes, Chief Executive of Perth Mint said: “I think as the world moves through times of increasing uncertainty, you’re seeing people look for alternate offerings. And you’re seeing this massive flow of funds into the likes of Bitcoin at the moment because people are looking for something outside of the traditional investments.” He added that the proposed online money would “bring investors back to precious metals after a boom in alternative investments such as cryptocurrencies.” Bitcoin was the original virtual currency and since it first mined in 2009, has seen its value surge and reach an all-time high of more than $17,000 (£12,000) in December 2017. However, the value of bitcoin has plunged since then and last week saw its value drop to just £8,300. Mr Hayes argued the decision of the mint to develop a gold-backed currency, similar to how physical currencies have previously been linked in the past, would help bring greater price stability to those investing in the digital money.
“So it will have all the benefits of something that is on a distributed ledger that settles very, very quickly, that is easy to trade, but is actually backed by precious metals, so there is actually something behind it, something backing it.” The Perth Mint are not the first to announce their intentions of creating a currency linked to gold.
Richard Hayes, Chief Executive of Perth Mint, announced the plans last year a cryptocurrency linked to gold called Onegram was announced by finance firm Shariah-compliant , leading to significant media attention. However, sale of the currency flopped, with less than 0.14 per cent of the company’s target being sold in the first phase of the initial coin offering. Venezuela has also announced plans to launch a cryptocurrency, called the Petro, that will be supported by gold.
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