What is the Wholesale Digital Gold ecosystem launched by the World Gold Council?

Valerie Charoux
Sep 4
3 min read

Financial News Europe - What are the Wholesale Digital Gold and Pooled Gold Interests that are launched by the World Gold Council on September 3^rd, 2025?

The launch of the Wholesale Digital Gold and Pooled Gold Interests ecosystem by the World Gold Council with the legal support of Linklaters is fully aligned with the UK’s Wholesale Financial Markets Digital Strategy. The new Wholesale Digital Gold ecosystem is supported by the UK government’s commitment to provide innovative and flexible legislation and regulation to facilitate new digital infrastructures in the UK market.

1 - What is Wholesale Digital Gold?

The Wholesale Digital Gold ecosystem is based on a small group of ‘Core Participants’ who are “co-owners of Gold Bars” held in vaults by Vault Operators.

Vault Operators are authorized providers of vaulting services in relation to the London Good Delivery Gold stored in a London vault within the Loco London ecosystem.

2 – What are Wholesale Digital Gold Core Participants?

1 - Core Participants are co-owners of Gold Bars held in vaults by Vault Operators. As such, they each jointly hold legal title to the Gold Bars in a proportionate share which is equal to the proportion that the Core Participant’s purchased portion of the Gold Bars bears to the entire pool at the time of purchase. The purchased portion of the Gold Bars means the weight of such portion in fine ounces as a proportion to the weight of the entire pool.

2 - Core Participants can thus issue Pooled Gold Interests (PGI)

3 - Core Participants are responsible for the custody and joint management of the Gold Bars, including making arrangements for the loading into and loading out of gold in the Ecosystem. With each loading in and loading out of gold, the Ecosystem is structured to automatically adjust and rebalance the Gold Bars, the rights of Core Participants and the number of underlying Pooled Gold Interests (PGI).

4 - Core Participants (joint legal owners of the Gold Bars), collectively assume primary responsibility for actively managing the gold.

5 - Core Participants can enter into contractual relationships with Vault Operators and Custodians. Custodians are authorized providers of safe custody services in relation to London Good Delivery Gold stored at a London vault within the Loco London ecosystem.

6 – Core Participants conduct audits of the Gold Bars in the Vaults; and ensure the servicing, safekeeping and insurance of the Gold Bars.

3 - What are Pooled Gold Interests (PGI)?

Pooled Gold Interests (PGI), are the beneficial interests in the co-ownership of Gold Bars. ‘Pooled Gold Interests’ are ‘issued’ by Core Participants (the co-owners of Gold Bars held in vaults by Vault Operators) within the Wholesale Digital Gold ecosystem.

Once issued, PGI can either be held by the Core Participants (the co-owners of the Gold Bars) for their own account or can be issued to be held by a broader group of ‘Participants’, who in turn can hold Pooled Gold Interests (PGI) for their own account or on behalf of Clients.

OTC gold trades can be settled through a transfer of Pooled Gold Interests within the Ecosystem, which may also result in a rebalancing of the Gold Bars.

4 – What is the technology structure for Wholesale Digital Gold and Pooled Gold Interests?

The technology structure for Wholesale Digital Gold and Pooled Gold Interests can accommodate a spectrum of digital technologies, including blockchain and DLT, alongside traditional systems. This flexibility ensures that existing systems can be leveraged, while providing a robust foundation for future scale and development.

Any technology model which is chosen for the development of the Ecosystem will facilitate integration with existing financial infrastructure, and will have the capacity to support asset custodians, triparty agents, and other market participants, while remaining adaptable for future innovation, including new digital payment methods.

The Wholesale Digital Gold Ecosystem will follow a phased participation model. Initially, a core group of market participants will be onboarded, which will pave the way for more market makers, and their clients, to participate in the Ecosystem, as the platform expands its market reach. Stakeholders who engage now will be uniquely positioned to shape the future standards, governance, and protocols for the Ecosystem and digital gold.

As the Wholesale Digital Gold initiative gathers momentum, collective participation will ensure the resulting platform has substantial scale and reach, tailored to meet the evolving needs of the global gold market as well as its integration within financial markets.