OneGram Launches Gold-Backed Cryptocurrency

A Dubai-based company has launched the gold-backed and Sharia-compliant cryptocurrency OneGram.

The launch as well as the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) of the brand new gold-backed and Sharia (Islamic law)-compliant crypto-currency OneGram was launched last month on Tuesday, May 2 at the Dubai International Financial Center at the Ritz Carlton. The big event was covered by “Reuters” and “Forbes.” This is definitely big news for digital money fans as well as investors.

OneGram’s one-of-a-kind value proposition blends the top-notch investment of gold along with 100% compliance of the Islamic Law of Sharia. The crypto-currency provides the benefit of being digital money. OneGram’s ICO started on Sunday, May 21.

OneGram will team up with GoldGuard. It is a high-security online trading and gold storage company that is audited by the international professional services network PwC and is insured.

Crypto currencies also called “digital gold” have become quite popular based on a recent review in “CoinDesk.” In fact, the UK’s Royal Mint has even launched a digital gold product named Royal Mint Gold. The offering from the UK Treasury’s thousand-year-old institution is backed by a maximum of $1 billion USD in solid gold bullion.BitGo is the contractor that’s constructing a blockchain that is created to secure and digitize one asset. That’s 9999 of fine gold that the UK’s Royal Mint has secured in 100% reserve.

The press released goes beyond mentioning the potential of growth of a new crypto-currency being gold-backed. It also mentions OneGram being compliant with Sharia as one of the most important features of the currency.

Islamic law compliance is very important to Muslims. As a result, it’s also critical for any individual or business that wants to conduct business in the PersianGulf region and in general the Islamic world.

In December 2016 “Bloomberg” reported the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) released a statement that allowed using the precious metal gold in the Islamic finance business worth almost $1.9 trillion.

OneGram CEO Ibrahim Mohammed shared that during recent years there’s been big growth in the Middle East in various “fintech” innovations. That includes smart contracts and digital tokens. He explained that the company is thrilled that it can create opportunities for any investors who are interested in Muslim-based financial markets as well as the safety of investments that are backed by commodities. That’s through benefits from the fast tech innovations within the blockchain market.

In addition, the AAOIFI provided a requirement that physical gold must back “paper gold” or gold-based financial tools.

It should be noted that not all paper gold offered by banks through investment types with question marks are always solid. Meanwhile, a better investment is real/physical gold that a reliable non-bank operator fully owns/stores is a better option.

Financial adviser James Richards implies that 10% of a good investment portfolio ought to be gold that’s physically owned. He also warns that during the new couple years there’s a chance that there could be a spike in gold demand due to panic. This would be triggered by the collapse of the global monetary system. This event could increase the price of gold to $10,000 per ounce. It’s now about $1,260 per ounce.

The review in “CoinDesk” states that the public tends to trust gold more than crypto-currency. The site also points out digital gold might result in the launch of a new global currency to compete against the US dollar. This is despite that it’s likely countries will return to the gold standard.

OneGram Coin (OGC) was backed at launch by 1 gram of gold. After OGC becomes used for digital transactions the fees excluding admin costs will be invested to purchase more gold. There are various factors that could increase the OGC value in the long term. One is the likely chance that gold’s price will rise. There’s the rising quantity of gold that backs each OGC. Finally, there are the various factors that create the market’s demand for OGC.

A grand total of about 12,400,800 OGC will be sold between the dates May 21 and September 22. The tokens can also be purchased on the official GoldGuard website.

Based on OneGram’s roadmap on June 30 the test network to be used for OGC transactions is scheduled to launch. After that in July, the goal of the company is to launch several implementations of OneGramCoin. This will be done in block explorers with full REST as well as websocket APIs. This will allow the users to see how the transactions were done on the blockchain.

Then in early August the primary network used for OGC transactions is scheduled to launch. OGCs will get distributed to various investors within the ICO and also listed on some of the most popular crypto exchanges. That event will take place on August 15.

Due to the growing popularity of crypto-currencies, it’s likely the OneGram trading platform will become popular due to the market it’s tapping. Time will tell how much of an impact it will have on the industry.