Digix to digitize physical gold, will issue Ethereum-based tokens

Ethereum is a new generation of Turing-complete blockchain platform. DAOs (autonomous organizations) based on Ethereum are emerging around the world. According to statistics, there are currently 181 projects, and Digix is ​​one of them. Their goal is to establish a stable currency anchored to physical gold. The author recently interviewed Yu Junjie, the marketing director, to bring you the latest information about Digix.

Could you please introduce the Digix team members?

Our team consists of 5 people. The chairman is庄斗金（Chng Teo Hye） who was born in the Philippines and served as the chairman of Fujitsu (Asia) Co., Ltd.; the CEO is郑凯成（Kai Cheng Chng） who worked in an international investment bank on Wall Street in New York for four years as a foreign exchange trader; the marketing director is余俊杰（Shaun Djie） who hosted the largest Ethereum exchange event in Asia. He recently published an article on Blockchain/IOT; the CTO is Anthony eufemio , who worked at Intel and NASA and has 18 years of work experience in computer security and IT industry. The technician Chris Hitchott is from the UK and worked on the design of Ethcore.io. In addition, we have two senior consultants with rich industry experience.

Figure 1: The Digix team took a photo with Vitalik when he visited Singapore in June 2015

Has there been any change in Singapore’s regulatory policy on digital cryptocurrencies in recent years?

Singapore’s authorities have been quite conservative in regulating cryptocurrencies over the past few years, with the Singapore Finance Authority quoting: “Like most jurisdictions, Singapore has no legislation regulating cryptocurrencies as they are not considered securities or legal units of account.”

What was your original intention in launching the Digix project?

Our goal is to successfully operate the first stablecoin in the virtual currency. DGX币can be used to pay for any Ethereum-based products and services, while DGD币can earn income through DGX coin trading volume and also support the DigixDAO fund.

Wait, this is a bit confusing. What is DGX coin and what is DGD coin?

Let's put it this way, 1 DGX coin = 1 gram of gold, and DGD coin is a currency that distributes dividends. Because DGX coin transactions will charge a 0.13% handling fee, these fees will become the source of dividends for DGD coins.

Can you tell me about the characteristics of DGX coins?

DGX is a price-stable token because it is pegged to gold and its price is backed by the intrinsic value of gold bars. Anyone with an Ethereum address can transfer tokenized gold peer-to-peer. Every DGX transaction leaves an asset certificate on the blockchain that cannot be tampered with or destroyed. And its ownership is completely transparent. DGX can be decomposed to 4 decimal places.

How to ensure 1DGX = 1 gram of gold?

Our gold supplier is方圆集团(Valuemax) Singapore listed company. The gold they sell is certified by伦敦金银协会(LBMA) . The audit service provided to us is必维国际检验集团（Bureau Veritas Inspectorate） , which was founded in 1828. They regularly conduct independent audits on gold. Malca-amit is an international vault service provider with vaults in major cities around the world. Their Singapore vault is close to Singapore Changi International Airport and is located in Singapore Freeport. It covers an area of ​​25,000 square meters. It is a highly secure and air-conditioned vault with controlled temperature. Gold is quite safe under their custody.

Figure 2: Digix’s partners

What is the difference between DGX coins and other gold products on the market?

1. Freely transferable assets.
2. Can be purchased in small quantities.
3. Asset ownership is fully transparent.

What are Digix's products?

Digix is ​​a platform that tokenizes physical assets. We put asset ownership on the blockchain and everyone can verify it. Our product is a software that digitizes certificates. You can think of us as a smart asset company. Our product is completely based on the Ethereum blockchain. Smart contracts are executed through the Ethereum blockchain, and transactions are confirmed by global nodes.

What is the total amount of tokens issued in this ICO? Is there a cap on the amount raised?

Our ICO will issue 2 million DGD coins, of which 300,000 will be given to our founding team. There is no upper limit on the amount of funds raised, but we have set a lower limit of $500,000. If this goal is not reached, the funds will be returned.

Suppose I purchased 100 grams of gold from a local bank in mainland China, how can I convert this physical gold into DGX coins?

The process is as follows. First, he has to send the physical gold to Singapore. After charging a certain testing fee, the gold bars with a purity of 99.99% verified by LBMA can enter our vault. Once the gold bars are verified, you will receive a certificate of ownership of the gold assets, which is a digital certificate online. If you wish, this certificate can be converted into 100,000 DGX coins.
Of course, we recommend that potential users purchase gold bars that have been verified by the London Bullion Association (LBMA) through us. We will put the ownership information on the blockchain, which can save verification costs. For details, please see the following process.

Figure 3: Schematic diagram of the process of converting physical gold into DGX coins

If I buy 100 DGX coins online, can I withdraw 100 grams of physical gold from the Malcaamit vault in Shanghai?

No, currently DGX coins can only be used to withdraw physical gold through Malca-amit’s vault in Singapore.

Have you done a risk assessment? What do you think of the prospects of this project? Is there a possibility of failure?

The token issued by this ICO is called DGD coin, which pays dividends every quarter. Its profits come from the transaction fees generated by DGX coins. At the same time, DGD coin holders can also propose suggestions to expand trading volume. For example, someone can propose to let a certain exchange list DGX trading, but this exchange needs to charge a certain fee. At this time, the foundation can pay this fee to list it on the exchange.
The main risk of this project is the high cost and the lack of guarantee on whether the trading volume can be steadily increased. We will also often encounter compliance and legal issues, and of course we will try our best to comply with the regulations.

Text: Miner

Editor: Miner

Source: http://www.8btc.com/digix-interview (8btc Information)