I've been reading recent news/rumors about Perth Mint wanting to start a gold backed crypto. For those unaware of who they are, they are Australia's largest gold refiner. This is interesting to me, because I've seen (who the hell knows who) others try to create a gold backed crypto and fail. But here we have a giant refiner looking to do it. They will be able to process a lot gold, as they already regularly do, and will be able to distribute either the bullion itself, or a crypto that may be redeemed for the bullion at any time. I think this is important, because I believe previous attempts at this have failed due to a lack of liquidity, reputation (very important), supply, and etc.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-24/cryptocurrency-backed-by-gold-being-developed-perth-mint/9352036If this turns out to be successful, this could/should replace Tether to some extent. While gold isn't pegged 1:1 to the USD, it's very stable compared to the likes of crypto. Holding a gold backed crypto should provide sufficient short term stability from bear markets. And to know that you could trade it in for the bullion at any time (may require big PM exchanges like APMEX or JMB to get on board) would be a pretty reassuring thing. I understand that one of the main benefits of USDT, is that allowed exchanges to avoid KYC, but everything is slowly heading that route anyway. (*cough* Bittrex)
And what should stop them for printing more crypto than gold? Maybe a success audit by Friedman LLP... but let's for the sake of discussion assume they will be 100% transparent about their balance sheets.
What do you all think about this? Does this have a place in crypto?
