The rise of cryptocurrency in recent years has led to a surge of interest in gold-backed digital currencies. Some may wonder why risk-averse gold investors would be interested in entering a market known for volatile currencies. Conversely, the idea of digital gold has increasingly held appeal to a technologically savvy demographic looking for an alternative way to store wealth in the modern world.
A history of digital gold
In 1995, not long after the internet went mainstream, E-Gold emerged as the first digital currency backed entirely by gold. At its peak, the currency was backed by 3.8 metric tons of gold, worth more than US 85 million, and traded by millions of people around the world.
However E-Gold’s status as a controversial alternative currency system made it an attractive target for criminal activity and, after years of investigation into illegal transactions, it was shut down in 2009.
Subsequent attempts to make a digital gold currency led to several look-alikes, but this was before the age of bitcoin and bloc...
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