数字黄金：共享基础设施的案例

The Case for a Shared Infrastructure 00 Purpose and scope About the World Gold Council About this paper This paper discusses ways in which accessto shared infrastructure could help gold toplay a greater role in the digital economy.It introduces the concept of Gold as aService, a platform owned and operated bythe World Gold Council. It is built as sharedinfrastructure that any market participant canaccess to build digital gold products without Established in 1987, the World GoldCouncil (WGC) is the market developmentorganisation for the gold industry. Itchampions the role gold plays as a strategicasset, shaping the future of a responsibleand accessible gold supply chain. Workingacross the investment, jewellery, andtechnology sectors, and engaging closelywith governments, regulators, and central The paper sets out the infrastructureopportunity and invites engagementand feedback from industry participants,technology providers, and regulators. Its Foreword By David Tait, Chief Executive Officer,World Gold Council Gold has been a cornerstone of the financial system for millennia.Its role has changed, but its value has endured. Today, we standat a crossroads: gold must adapt to operate confidently within an This paper sets out a clear direction forhow the industry must collectively moveforward on infrastructure and a long-termdesign for digital gold. It does not present aclosed blueprint, but a call and commitment Building and maintaining trust requires morethan preserving tradition. It also needs gold In recent decades, digital innovation hasexpanded access to gold. But innovationalone does not guarantee coherence. Today,digital gold is fragmented. As new formatsand platforms emerge, the gold market’s Gold has endured because the market hasadapted thoughtfully and deliberately atkey moments of change. We believe thisis another such moment, which demandscollaboration, urgency, and execution. The World Gold Council was created tostrengthen and safeguard gold’s role inthe global financial system. That mandaterequires us to anticipate structural shiftsand to act accordingly. We will now do so 00 Executive summary Gold has long been a strategic asset and store of value. As financialinfrastructure becomes increasingly digital, the challenge for goldto operate in modern financial systems without undermining the consumers cannot assume digital gold products areinterchangeable. As a result, consumers must revisittheir trust in each individual product, its issuer, and itsunderlying holdings. In parallel, low fungibility limitsmobility across the category: products such as goldtokens cannot move seamlessly between venues and Over recent decades, gold has partially digitised.Trading, clearing, and record keeping are largelyelectronic and digital gold products have emerged,including gold ETFs, vaulted digital gold accounts, Despite this progress, some digital gold applicationsremain limited in scale, relative to the broader digitalfinancial market. This reflects challenges in the currentmarket structure, rather than the shortcomings ofexisting solutions. Launching and operating digitalgold products is complex and costly. It requires Overall, these trust and mobility frictions compoundinto weaker product‑market fit, demonstrated by thelimited penetration and low awareness of many digital If the industry cannot overcome these challenges,digital gold will likely remain a collection of siloedproducts. Innovation at the product level wouldpersist, and gold risks becoming less integrated and The current fragmented landscape results in lowfungibility of digital gold products, which in turnconstrains consumer trust and holds back market Against this backdrop, the World Gold Council iscommitted to creating and orchestrating sharedmarket infrastructure to support the issuance andoperation of scalable, interoperable digital goldproducts. This paper explores how infrastructure With the intention to deliver trust, legal certainty,and simplicity from day one, many of the Market liquidity could deepen and become moreefficient as products gather under a sharedinfrastructure. The aggregation of venues toredeem physical gold could power a globally trustedredemption network. Scale could also drive unitcosts downwards, with vaulting, insurance, audit, andlogistics becoming cheaper as volumes consolidateonto shared platforms. Finally, with increasedfungibility, digital gold could become a more attractivebase layer for third parties to build on. This wouldgive app builders confidence they can access broad, Gold as a Service would not directly be a consumer-facing product. Instead, the intention is to supportthe suppliers and vendors that underpin gold productcreation. Issuers would have full ownership of theirproducts, value propositions, brands, and customer This paper is an exploration of how participantsacross the market can contribute to the nextchapter of digital gold. It is not prescribing a singleend design; in