IAMGOLD Buys into Blockchain-Based Gold Tracking System Provider EmTech

Canadian gold miner IAMGOLD Corporation announced on Thursday it had made a strategic investment in Emergent Technology Holdings (EmTech), a fintech company that leverages distributed ledger technology (DLT) to track the origin of responsibly sourced gold.

IAMGOLD has joined other early EmTech investors such as Sprott, Yamana Gold, and Valcambi. EmTech will use the capital to expand its gold supply chain system, Responsible Gold. It is allegedly the only blockchain-based app that focuses on responsibly sourced gold by tracking its provenance and path from the point of origin to vault. The gold is tokenized into G-Coin units, which represent digital tokens with the status of digital certificates of title. Investors can buy the tokens to generate profits, make payments, transfer wealth, or redeem them for physical gold. Besides the supply chain system, EmTech will develop a digital token platform revolving around G-Coin.

IAMGOLD president and CEO Steve Letwin commented:

“We are thrilled to be an early investor in Emergent Technology. Innovation is a key aspect of the industry's modernized operating model, and as miners, we must begin thinking more strategically to stay sustainable and profitable in the future.” “By placing us at the forefront of an exciting new blockchain-based ecosystem, this investment will allow IAMGOLD to unlock new value by revolutionizing provenance and efficiency and providing greater transparency in the supply chain,” he added.

EmTech's supply chain app is already operational and available for licensing. As for the G-Coin tokens, investors will be able to buy them later this year. According to the company, one G-Coin token will be equal to one gram of gold stored in a vault. The tokens are built under the ERC-20 standard and can be used by investors in several ways.

In April this year, Digix DAO issued the first tranche of tokens backed by physical gold.