Canadian Blockchain Firm Plays Pivotal Role in Global Gold Industry Pilot Project

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, March 29, 2022 (Newswire.com) - Canada's blockchain advocate and responsible sourcing champion, Peer Ledger, has been selected as one of the providers of the technology to improve accountability and transparency in the Global Gold Trade. 

Yesterday, the CEOs of the London Bullion Marketing Association (LBMA) and the World Gold Council (WGC) together announced the pilot of blockchain-based platforms for members to test new technologies that will make more transparency and accountability possible for gold bars that are traded across the industry. 

Dr. Dawn Jutla, Founder and co-CEO of Peer Ledger and the Scotiabank Professor of Technology Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Sobey School of Business has expressed delight at having Canada and Halifax represented in the watershed initiative in the global gold trade. In 2016, Peer Ledger was the first company in the world to develop a blockchain-based technology platform to strengthen governance of bars trading across the gold industry.

The LBMA's push to use new technologies for additional governance controls and to strengthen gold bar integrity across the industry is in line with Peer Ledger's vision to provide transparency in provenance globally. 

According to Dr. Jutla, "Peer Ledger's MIMOSI Connect ESG Platform is meant to address one of the most critical supply chain gaps of the day.  Corporations know all about their customers. They spend millions on social media, mobile app, and cookie technologies. But many firms don't know with certainty what materials from which originating regions or countries are in their products, nor measure the environmental, social or governance (ESG) footprint of their supply chains. MIMOSI fills this technology gap and enables organizations to have new ESG insights into their supply chains."

Economic and ESG risks are difficult to manage as current documentation of processes and control systems leave gaps in materials traceability. These are compounded by the incompatibility in practices and systems across supply chains. Such challenges span dozens of industries and the vast majority of companies are unable to identify and lower risks in their supply chains. 

Jutla underscored: "How are we sure that our gold comes from verifiably responsible sources? How do we know that gold mines are practising environmentally safe, healthy practices? How do we drive socially responsible conventions? How do we prevent the entry of counterfeit precious metal products in the supply chain? These are some of the critical questions that Peer Ledger's MIMOSI helps resolve!"

Peer Ledger applauds the leadership of the LBMA and WGC to bring these stakeholders together at first to strengthen governance controls in the gold industry. Their willingness to support and share new models and technology platforms for strengthening governance in concert with other associations across the world's bullion centres will ensure higher levels of trust in the gold industry globally.  

Blockchain technology provides an immutable and robust third-party auditing platform for tracing the origins of precious metals, in part helping to prevent money laundering, extreme funding, and conflict minerals, which will improve confidence in the precious metals market - a model that is transferable to all other industries.

Source: Peer Ledger