World Gold Council Proposes Shared Infrastructure to Scale Digital Gold Market

The World Gold Council (WGC) on Thursday unveiled plans to develop a shared market infrastructure aimed at accelerating the evolution of digital gold, as part of a broader push to integrate the precious metal more seamlessly into modern financial systems.

The initiative, outlined in a white paper titled “Digital Gold: The Case for a Shared Infrastructure” co-authored with Boston Consulting Group (BCG), proposes a new model described as “Gold as a Service”—an open platform designed to standardize and simplify the issuance and management of gold-backed digital products.

The proposed framework seeks to bridge the gap between the physical custody of gold and the digital systems used to create and manage financial products linked to it. By harmonizing processes such as custody coordination, reconciliation, compliance and redemption, the platform aims to reduce operational friction and improve consistency across offerings.

Scaling challenges persist despite digital strides

While gold markets have already undergone significant digitization—with trading, clearing and record-keeping largely electronic and a growing ecosystem of tokenized gold products—the WGC noted that adoption remains constrained by structural inefficiencies.

According to the report, limited standardization, fragmented systems and reduced fungibility continue to hinder the scalability of digital gold, making it difficult for such products to integrate fully with broader financial market infrastructure.

The “Gold as a Service” model is positioned as a response to these constraints, attempting to modernize how gold functions within an increasingly digital financial ecosystem without compromising its physical backing—long regarded as central to investor trust.

Towards interoperability and broader financial use

The proposed infrastructure would standardize product issuance and lifecycle management, enabling smoother creation and operation of digital gold instruments. It also aims to improve fungibility—allowing digital gold to function more like a uniform financial asset with consistent legal and economic characteristics across platforms.

Another key feature is the embedding of continuous audit and reconciliation mechanisms into the system, intended to provide transparent proof of physical backing and clearly defined ownership and redemption rights.

Crucially, the platform is being designed with interoperability in mind, enabling digital gold products to connect with existing financial systems as well as emerging digital rails. This could enhance liquidity and mobility, potentially expanding gold’s utility beyond its traditional role as a store of value.

The WGC said improved fungibility and liquidity could allow gold to be used more actively within financial markets, including as collateral for borrowing and other capital deployment use cases.

Industry call for collaboration

David Tait, chief executive of the World Gold Council, said the initiative reflects the need for gold to adapt alongside broader changes in financial services.

“Financial services are undergoing rapid digital transformation and gold must evolve to maintain its role in the global financial system,” Tait said, adding that shared infrastructure could improve accessibility, trading efficiency and long-term relevance.

Matthias Tauber, managing director and senior partner at Boston Consulting Group, said the focus is now on ensuring that digital gold can scale without losing the integrity of its physical underpinning.

“The question is no longer whether gold will be digital, but how it can participate in modern financial systems without compromising physical integrity,” Tauber said.

The World Gold Council has invited market participants, technology firms and financial innovators to contribute to the development of the proposed infrastructure, signaling an industry-wide effort to build common standards for the next phase of digital gold’s growth.