Most people buy gold for one of two reasons, desire and fear. The depth and variety of uses for gold in everyday life makes it an important part of every culture.
For many others, gold is that it is not so much of an investment as it is hedge against currency devaluation and inflation to calm. Many investors own the yellow metal to protect themselves out of fear of control monetary system. Central banks have run amok since the 2008 financial crisis and hyperinflation is currently destroying countries Venezuela. Owning gold mitigates these risks and secures wealth into the future, as it has been a payment method for over 5,000 years.
However, there are drawbacks to owning gold, even small amounts.
First off, all gold is sold at a discount to the spot rate and depending on the type of gold (coins, bars, jewelry, etc.) different premiums are added. 10-15% premiums are not unheard of! There are also premiums charged when selling your gold. In total, you could lose up to 20-30% of the value of your gold due to fees! This can easily eat into your entire return for several years or even decades!
The bigger the bar, the lower the premium due to manufacturing and refining costs. However, larger bars cannot be liquidated in parts. No dealer will buy a half a 1kg gold bar. Coins and other gold tender on the other hand can have high transactions costs depending on the dealer, who sometimes hide their rates or make it difficult to know the premium. Jewelry prices are heavily dependent on what is fashionable, rather than market rates. Pick a trendy necklace in poor taste and it could lose half its value once a new trend arrives.
After purchasing a large amount of gold, extra costs such as insurance, secure transport and storage must be added.
The latter presents the biggest problem. Thieves start robbing a house by searching for necklaces, rings and other jewelry. You could store your gold in a safe, but they cost thousands of dollars and installation can cost even more! Keeping large amounts of gold in your house puts you and your family at risk for theft, burglary and other types of heinous home invasion.
Banks and other secure storage units are another option used by many to keep their gold safe, but they charge high fees. A gold owner with 100oz of gold pays on average $200 a year for full service bailment.
Thieves can be kept at bay with safes and banks, but no gold is safe when the government wants to confiscate it. History has shown time and time again that gold is the first asset a cash-strapped government comes for when it is mired in debt and suffering economic depression.
Even the United States of America, the land of the free, forbid the “hoarding” of gold in 1933. The US government ordered that all gold owners turn over their gold for dollars or face prosecution and or imprisonment. After the program was a “success,” the next year the government devalued the dollar from $20.67 to $35, forcing massive losses on those innocent people they had confiscated gold from.
This isn’t a one-time case, governments around the world constantly enact regulations and laws limiting ownership of gold. Most recently India made it illegal to own more than 500g of gold per married couple! This amounts to a paltry 20,000 USD at today’s rates. No wealth can be built under these conditions. Gold is effectively illegal in India. There is no knowing what governments will do next.
The advent Bitcoin and crypto currencies held on a decentralized blockchain provided a solution to these problems. Every transaction is recorded and kept, eliminating storage costs, insurance, and risk of theft or loss. Because the network is decentralized, no government or financial authority can confiscate or freeze your assets.
However, Bitcoin and other crypto currencies using blockchain technology are risky because of their price volatility. It’s not uncommon for Bitcoin, the most mature and oldest cryptocurrency, to experience 10-20% swings daily. Waking up and seeing a huge drop in your portfolio is a huge psychological burden. There are too many temptations to sell when your portfolio is taking a batter.
Goldmint’s new crypto token GOLD takes the best aspects of the blockchain, its immutability, transparency, and decentralization and pairs it with the advantages of real gold, its hedging capabilities, and intrinsic value to create a new crypto asset perfect for any investor to include in their portfolio.
Every GOLD token is equal to 1 oz of real gold priced according to LMBA rates and is backed by an equal amount of physical or paper (ETF or futures) gold. Each token can be fractionalized, meaning you can split it up and use it in as many parts as you like, such as paying for a cup of coffee with it. There are no bars or coins to be kept in a safe and most importantly, your GOLD holdings are stored on the blockchain so there is no requirement for your pay for costly storage and insurance.
Even better, you can receive loans and credit cards equal to the total amount of GOLD that you owned. No dealer or lender will do the same for physical or paper gold.
GoldMint’s Whitepaper is available now on the website. It contains all information about the GOLD token and their upcoming ICO in October of MNT tokens MNT is the utility token used for the creation and confirmation of GOLD blocks. MNT holders will be issued substantial rewards for their processing of the blockchain.
