Frontiers · Digital Gold · Structure & costs
Rights are decided in contracts.
Responsibility map
Who does what.
Investor
Provides funds; receives the precise rights stated in the offering.
Holding vehicle
Holds the relevant assets or rights under documented arrangements.
Custodian
Safeguards and releases metal according to the custody contract.
Administrator
Reconciles cash, fine ounces, ownership records and total token supply.
Assurance & data
Tests stated assertions and communicates evidence with an effective date.
Token operator
Enforces configured transfer, mint and redemption controls.
Rights schedule
Describe exactly what an investor can enforce.
Legal owner of the bullion
Name the entity that holds title, and where it is incorporated.
Token holder’s interest
State the precise claim: fractional bar interest, pool share, or issuer obligation.
Redemption obligor
Identify who must honour conversion or delivery, and under what conditions.
Dispute forum
Fix the governing law and forum before funds move.
Insolvency treatment
Explain where investors rank and what recovery actually looks like.
Ownership in metal, shares in a metal-owning company and a contractual debt claim can produce materially different recoveries even when each is advertised as gold-backed. See the research.
Issuer economics
The sponsor’s separate business
Annual fee revenue
$65,000
0.65% of reserve value · Modelled
Net annual surplus
-$115,000
After variable costs and overhead
Break-even reserve value
$42,857,143
Reserve scale that covers overhead
Setup recovery
Not recovering
One-time setup / annual surplus
Issuance proceeds backing gold are not operating revenue. This steady-state test excludes volume-dependent creation fees, taxes, financing and asset growth. Wind-down reserves remain additional.
Infrastructure procurement questions
A diligence universe from the source document — not a shortlist or endorsement.
| Provider | Ask each provider |
|---|---|
| Securitize | Demonstrate the required workflow, regulated entities, recurring costs, data export and provider exit. |
| Tokeny / ERC-3643 | Permissioned-token capability is technical, not a legal-compliance certification. |
| Polymesh | Verify identity, transfer and reporting controls in the offered production configuration. |
| DigiShares | Confirm network support and oracle integrations in production, not in a development release. |
Next: turn the design into a reviewable evidence file.
Due diligence →