By Emma Dunkley Financial Times, London Sunday, November 19, 2017
The world's oldest currency is being brought into the digital age with the launch of a debit card and app that will allow people to pay for goods in gold.
Fintech group Glint (http://glintpay.com) has teamed up with Lloyds Banking Group in the UK and MasterCard to create an app that enables people to load credit in various currencies, which can then be used to buy a portion of a physical gold bar. Customers use the app at the checkout to select whether to pay in a currency or gold, before transacting with their MasterCard.
https://www.ft.com/content/e888a676-caa9-11e7...18-7a9fb7d6163e
Glint's new service is riding the wave of alternative payments, such as bitcoin, as more people seek payment methods that can store value in a way that differs from traditional currencies.
Ben Davies, a co-founder of Glint, said: "We want to create a fairer form of money whereby we give you choice and control over how you protect your money in an era where central banks issue more currency, and so the value of your currency is falling."
Glint is working with Lloyds in the UK as the deposit holder for customers storing money on their app. When a customer decides to buy gold through the app, this is used to purchase part of a gold bar that is physically allocated in vaults in Switzerland. ...
... For the remainder of the report:
https://www.ft.com/content/cb177256-cd1b-1...bb-291a884dd8c6 * * *
