Perth Mint digital platform attracts new investors

The Perth Mint’s move to embrace blockchain and cryptocurrency technology is paying early dividends with a surge in investors registering to trade gold on digital platforms. 

• 1,400 new digital accounts opened in 2 weeks since the launch of the Perth Mint Gold Token
• 10,000 downloads of the GoldPass app in 12 months
• PMGOLD ASX ETP eclipses global peers with 45 per cent year-on-year growth
• AAAU NYSE ETF exceeds expectations with investments beyond USD 160 million

Perth Mint Chief Executive Officer Richard Hayes said that in the past two weeks, following the launch of the Perth Mint Gold Token, more than 1,400 investors had registered for new digital accounts.

The Perth Mint Gold Token, issued in collaboration with InfiniGold, is the first digital gold token on a public blockchain backed by government guaranteed gold.

Importantly, it fulfils a key component of The Perth Mint’s strategy to deliver investment options for investors across all platforms – from facilitating the ability to buy physical gold coins and bars to this latest industry leading digital token.

“We have been very pleased with the response from investors globally and we expect to see interest continue to grow in the months ahead,” Mr Hayes said.

“The Perth Mint now offers an incredibly diverse range of modern, digital platforms for investors in addition to our traditional range of bullion coins and bars, as well as other physical precious metals products.

“The digitisation of gold via a public blockchain ledger is a natural progression for global commodity markets and is the next step in our bid to provide investors the opportunity to securely buy and sell physical gold at the touch of a screen.

“Our mandate is to take Australian gold to the world and we now have products for every type of market and for every type of investor.

“In the past year we have seen a growing need in the investment community for a more sophisticated and broader range of gold backed investment options and platforms, and we are committed to meeting this gap in the market.”

Giving a keynote address at the 2019 Gold and Alternative Investments Conference in Sydney, Mr Hayes said Perth Mint Gold (ASX: PMGOLD), its Australian Exchange Traded Product, had experienced growth of more than 45 per cent in the year to September. This compared to a global average growth for gold ETFs of just 20 per cent.

The Perth Mint has also received strong investor backing for its AAAU Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), which listed on the New York Stock Exchange in August 2018. The fund has so far attracted more than USD 160 million in funds under management.

“The Perth Mint Gold Token is a great example of a secure, modern trading platform that is attracting a new generation of investors in gold.”

“This year we also officially launched the AAAU ETF on the NYSE, following the soft launch last year, and have seen equally strong inflows in the US market, particularly over the past three months as market conditions for ETFs in general improved.

“Furthermore, PMGOLD continues to attract new investors underpinned by the quality and security of The Perth Mint’s investment products.”

GoldPass, The Perth Mint’s smartphone trading app, powered by InfiniGold technology, has also enjoyed strong growth with more than 10,000 downloads in the past year.

Mr Hayes said the increase in the gold price of 32 per cent in the year to September 2019 more than quadrupled the growth delivered by the Australian share market over the same period.

“Gold remains the most effective hedge against falling stock markets, with an average return of almost 40 per cent in the five worst years for equity markets,” he said.

“Growth in the past year has been driven by many investment sectors, including Self-Managed Superannuation Fund trustees who are looking to diversify portfolios and as a natural response to the multiple interest rate cuts we’ve seen in Australia and around the world.”

Mr Hayes said The Perth Mint’s research, analysing data from the early 1990s to June 2019, highlighted that gold delivered average returns of more than 5.5 per cent in the quarters that growth superannuation strategies declined, outperforming traditional defensive assets like bonds, which were up 3.84 per cent during the same time period.

“The oldest and most enduring asset in the world is now available to investors securely and reliably 24 hours a day. There has never been a better time to hold gold,” he said. 

ENDS