GoldMint is a project that backs its virtual token with actual gold, making its tokens part of the extremely popular precious metal markets. However, GoldMint is looking to go one step further by vending gold and introducing something it calls the “Custody Bot.” This post looks at GoldMint’s Custody Bot, what it means for the precious metal markets, and what it does for GoldMint.

What is Gold Vending?

Gold vending is somewhat of a niche market, but it is just about as straightforward as it sounds. Vending machines are filled with gold which customers are then able to purchase. They have found particular popularity in the more affluent parts of the world, such as Dubai.

Gold Vending on the Blockchain

There are some obvious advantages to introducing precious metals to the blockchain. Representative tokens can be traded quickly, securely, and economically. The British Royal Mint even has decided to build a gold trading platform using blockchain technology. However, those are just digital gold products and do not provide the opportunity to vend or purchase gold on the blockchain. There is ample opportunity for that, though. Individuals holding the right tokens could, in theory, purchase physical gold from a gold vending machine if it were connected to the blockchain. This is where GoldMint and its Custody Bot comes in.

What is the Custody Bot?

GoldMint believes that the future of the gold market is automated vending machines at which individuals can buy, sell, and trade gold. The company aims to make its tokens the units of trade for these transactions. Since GoldMint’s tokens represent and are exchangeable for real gold, the GoldMint team needed to have a way to verify the quality of gold that smaller sellers add to its blockchain. Gold on exchanges needs to be of a certain quality, and GoldMint itself has rated its cryptoasset – called GOLD – against the London Bullion market. 1 GOLD cryptoasset is equal to 1 ounce of gold on the London Bullion Market (LBMA), which is rated 999 in purity. Thus, any gold that enters GoldMint’s ecosystem has to be that pure or derive pure gold content from weight.

The answer to this need was the Custody Bot. This is a device that is connected to the blockchain and performs many tasks for GoldMint and its users. It provides temporary holding, purity inspection, long term storage, and a point of entry or sale for physical gold on the GoldMint blockchain. It is a multifaceted solution to the specific needs of GoldMint. GoldMint will also serve investors who wish to add gold to the blockchain for speed and security in exchange for GOLD cryptoassets, but who are not large institutions or firms which can independently verify the purity of gold. Because of this, GoldMint needed a way to automatically inspect the various types of gold these investors want to add to the blockchain.

Custody Bot Is the Future of Gold Vending

Custody Bot also helps GoldMint because the company wishes to lend out physical gold as well as GOLD cryptoassets. This means that physical gold needs to be tested for the individual(s) receiving the loan. This system is not unlike Amazon Lockers or another drop-off service where people can pick up packages left for them. However, it is connected to the blockchain and includes some really clever equipment – a spectrometer and weight – to inspect and verify its contents for gold purity. As outlined in the whitepaper, individuals will be able to buy gold with an array of payment methods and sell gold for GoldMint tokens at these vending machines.

GoldMint’s Crowdsale

GoldMint’s crowdsale starts on September 20, and participants will have the opportunity to purchase MNTP token, which will eventually migrate over to a Graphene-based blockchain under the name MNT. These tokens are needed to verify the GOLD transactions on GoldMint’s blockchain. GOLD is a cryptoasset which is representative of physical gold backed by the blockchain. 1 GOLD equals 1 ounce of LBMA gold. The more MNTP (MNT) a user has, the more transactions they can verify in GOLD. Users are then compensated for mining with an appropriate amount of GOLD. Early investors into MNTP can expect to see some nice bonuses as well.

By securing gold on the blockchain and backing assets with said gold, GoldMint is changing the way we think about precious metal trading. Its Custody Bot will further revolutionize this concept by allowing individuals and smaller institutions to add their gold to the blockchain and manage that wealth with their GOLD cryptoasset, since it inspects the quality of all gold being added to the ecosystem. It also enables GoldMint to lend gold and safely store its physical gold assets while in transit.

Check out the Custody Bot here.

Website: https://goldmint.io

Blog: https://blog.goldmint.io

GoldMint’s Crowdsale: https://goldmint.io/ico

This is a sponsored post and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of any The Merkle employees. This is not investment or trading advice; always conduct your own independent research.