TL;DR
- The World Gold Council plans to digitize London’s gold market with PGIs, units that represent fractions of bars.
- The first trial will take place in London in Q1 2026 with banks and trading firms, aiming to broaden market access and liquidity.
- Gold surpassed $3,550 per ounce this week, doubling its value in two years.
The World Gold Council is preparing a plan to digitize London’s physical gold market, valued at around $900 billion.
The initiative consists of creating a new digital unit called “pooled gold interests” or PGIs, which will allow investors to acquire fractional ownership of bullion. The first trial is scheduled for the first quarter of 2026 and will involve banks and trading houses based in the British capital.
The project aims to modernize gold trading and extend its reach to investor profiles that currently have limited access to the physical market. According to David Tait, the council’s chief executive, digitization is a necessary condition to integrate the precious metal into today’s financial ecosystem. The goal is to establish a standard that enables the use of the same financial instruments already applied to other assets, but directly on digital units backed by the precious metal.
The creation of PGIs seeks to boost liquidity and lower entry barriers, offering a more agile alternative to traditional purchases of bars or coins. By representing fractional ownership, the new instruments would allow a broader group of investors to participate in the market without bearing the logistical costs of storage and transportation of the metal.
Gold Doubled Its Value in Two Years
Gold hit a historic record above $3,550 per ounce this week, doubling its price in just two years. The surge reflects growing demand for safe-haven assets amid geopolitical tensions and volatility in other markets. This trend has been key in strengthening the appeal of instruments that make it easier for new capital to enter the market.
The London pilot will be crucial to determine whether digitization can become a viable complement to the physical transaction system. If it scales, the model could be replicated in other financial centers and pave the way for a hybrid framework where the precious metal retains its tangible backing but trades with the flexibility of digital assets.
The WGC has not yet provided further details on the scope of the project or on the technology that will support the digital infrastructure
