Finance Monthly April 2019 Edition

46 www.finance-monthly.com SPECIAL FEATURE - DIGITAL GOLD Thomas Coughlin, CEO of Kinesis Money, discusses how digitising gold on the blockchain can revolutionise financial services. he tumultuous backdrop of volatile financial markets has seen commodities such as precious metals steal the limelight recently – particularly gold. According to a recent report by the World Gold Council, Central bank demand for gold was 651.5t in 2018, up 74% compared with 374.8t in 2017 , hitting a recording-breaking half- century high of gold bought by central banks, the largest increase since the US’s decision to end the dollar’s peg to bullion in 1971. This renewed interest in gold is due to the perfect storm of political tensions, trade wars, global debt and economic downturn, fuelling the need for institutions to diversify their investment portfolios. Countries across the world are turning their backs on the US Dollar as a reliable means of reserve, exemplified by the Russian central bank which sold almost all of its US Dollars to buy 274.3 tons of gold in 2018 . Following its annual report, the Director of Investment Research at the World Gold Council has announced central banks’ appetite for gold is Thomas Coughlin, CEO of Kinesis Money DIGITAL A REASON TO RETURN TO THE GOLD STANDARD G LD T