MKS PAMP Re-enters Gold-Backed Token Arena: An In-Depth Look

MKS PAMP Re-enters Gold-Backed Token Arena: An In-Depth Look

In the global race to tokenize gold, there are still very few traditional giants entering the Real World Asset (RWA) market from the source of gold. Swiss precious metals group MKS PAMP is one of the few: it not only possesses a complete supply chain from refineries and wholesale trading to branded gold bars, but is also determined to repackage the physical gold in its vaults as digital assets that can be traded on the blockchain.

Six years ago, it participated in the launch of the early gold token DGLD, but it quickly faded away due to early timing and market immaturity. Today, with the market size of gold tokens represented by Tether Gold (XAUT) and Paxos Gold (PAXG) approaching billions of US dollars, and with the full rise of the RWA narrative, MKS PAMP is bringing the DGLD token back to the center stage through the acquisition of Gold Token SA.

MKS PAMP: An Integrated Head Player in Precious Metals

The MKS PAMP Group is a family-owned precious metals group based in Geneva, Switzerland, with large refineries in both Switzerland and India. It also operates precious metals trading departments, mints, supply chain distribution, and online retail businesses. Among MKS PAMP's products, the most well-known is certainly the small gold bar with the "Lady Fortuna" (Goddess of Luck) embossed pattern, launched in 1979, becoming the first precious metals brand to decorate the back of its cast gold bars. Today, "Lady Fortuna" is one of the most recognized series of investment gold bars in the world, widely regarded as a high-end brand in European, Middle Eastern, and Asian markets.

In addition, MKS PAMP has also been certified by the LBMA (London Bullion Market Association) and LPPM (London Platinum and Palladium Market), the global authorities in the over-the-counter precious metals market. The gold bars it produces can be directly used for settlement in key markets such as London and Zurich. Not only that, PAMP has long been recognized by the LBMA as a "Good Delivery Referee", undertaking industry standards, inspection, and arbitration roles. There are currently only 7 companies worldwide that have been selected.

Therefore, due to Switzerland's pivotal position in the global supply chain of gold refining, MKS PAMP provides services to large clients such as central banks and mining companies, and also faces individual investors through distribution networks and online channels. Overall, it can be regarded as a typical integrated "head player" in the precious metals industry.

According to a Bloomberg report, MKS PAMP's trading business accounts for approximately 5% of the gold trading volume in the London market, making it a leading liquidity provider in the world's largest gold trading center. In recent years, the MKS PAMP Group has continued to expand, establishing a silver mint in an old hangar in Florida in 2024, and establishing a regional headquarters in Hong Kong in October this year to seize global gold and silver demand growth opportunities.

In addition to spatial expansion and layout, MKS PAMP has also been trying to extend its reach into the cryptocurrency world.

First Attempt at Gold Tokenization Six Years Ago

MKS PAMP's first serious involvement in gold tokenization can be traced back to six years ago. In October 2019, CoinShares, in conjunction with MKS PAMP and Blockchain.com, launched a gold tokenization product called "DGLD". Each DGLD token is tied to physical gold, with custody and refining handled by PAMP, while the chain uses the Bitcoin ecosystem's sidechain/side network technology as a means of record-keeping and transfer. The goal is to combine the "value stability of gold" and the "security of the Bitcoin network" to provide institutions and high-net-worth clients with an easier way to transfer and hold programmable gold.

The official publicity at the time emphasized several selling points: backed by physical gold 1:1, and is "allocated gold" (registered and allocated custody); the custody location is in Switzerland, the gold bars comply with LBMA standards, and the PAMP refinery is responsible for production and quality control; through partner platforms, holders can exchange tokens for physical gold bars, or transfer and trade them on supported digital platforms.

From the perspective of the technical route, the first version of DGLD chose Bitcoin-related infrastructure, rather than the Ethereum DeFi ecosystem, which was still in its infancy at the time. This is related to the project team's considerations: they paid more attention to Bitcoin's narrative as a "store of value" and the relatively conservative group of users, rather than high-frequency trading and complex contracts. However, the project soon fell into oblivion. The project team admitted when reviewing the product that the market demand for gold tokens in 2019 was very early, and that institutions, retail investors, compliance paths, and infrastructure were not ready to support a large enough scale.

Overall, MKS PAMP's participation in the DGLD project is essentially a proof of concept and product trial for gold tokenization.

Acquisition of Crypto Technology Company to Relaunch DGLD Project

In November 2025, MKS PAMP announced the full acquisition of Gold Token SA (GTSA), which is the actual issuing entity of the DGLD plan, and was established in the Canton of Geneva in 2018. After being acquired, GTSA will act as a tokenization institution under MKS PAMP to relaunch the DGLD gold tokenization business.

With prior experience, MKS PAMP has carried out a comprehensive "upgrade" in technology, compliance, and liquidity. First of all, the DGLD token is no longer focused on the relatively niche Bitcoin sidechain ecosystem, but is based on mainstream public chains such as Ethereum, adopts the common smart contract standard, and plans for cross-chain or multi-chain compatibility with other chains. For a gold token "used for collateral, settlement, and liquidity management", composability and integration costs are often more important than the narrative of the chain itself. Choosing mature networks such as Ethereum is clearly more in line with the current industrial infrastructure reality.

MKS PAMP stated that the newly issued DGLD tokens still correspond to a certain number of grams of physical gold and are only sold to accredited institutional investors. The focus is on providing institutional investors, family offices, and entities holding a large number of crypto assets with an "on-chain gold" tool to hedge against volatility, provide collateral, or manage balance sheets.

Regarding compliance issues, the actual Gold Token SA that operates the project is headquartered in Switzerland and is regulated by VQF, a self-regulatory organization supervised by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). In the DGLD project six years ago, market adoption and liquidity were among the biggest shortcomings. To solve this problem, MKS PAMP plans to provide liquidity for DGLD through its own trading department and partners, and institutions holding DGLD can also sell it on secondary cryptocurrency exchanges to avoid liquidity gradually drying up as it did in 2019.

According to Kurt Hemecker, CEO of Gold Token SA, the relaunch of DGLD is still in preparation, and officials say that it is likely to start in the decentralized field first. Kurt himself is also a veteran player in the crypto industry, having served as the CEO of the Mina Foundation, a lightweight public chain, and the Chief of Staff of Diem (formerly known as Libra), a stablecoin launched by Meta. After being acquired and joining MKS PAMP, Kurt will serve as the Group's Head of Digital Assets.

What are the advantages of MKS PAMP compared to existing gold tokens?

As people's interest in digital gold increases, there are already a variety of digital gold token solutions on the market, and the main players include PAXG issued by Paxos Gold, XAUT launched by Tether Gold, etc.

Each PAXG token issued by Paxos Trust is linked to one troy ounce of LBMA-certified allocated gold. PAXG is regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), and the custody company publishes monthly audit reports. Investors can exchange 430 PAXG tokens for LBMA good delivery gold bars (400 troy ounces, about 12.5 kg), or withdraw them in US dollars.

PAXG has high transparency and regulatory endorsement, and purchases and sales are relatively active, but the threshold is relatively high, and certain fees must also be paid in the casting and redemption links.

XAUT is a token launched by Tether Gold in 2020. Each XAUT is linked to 1 ounce of physical gold stored in a Swiss vault. Tether claims that XAUT corresponds to physical gold 1:1 and provides an online tool to verify gold bar numbers. Compared with PAXG, the issuer of XAUT lacks similar traditional financial license supervision, and its disclosure framework and audit standards rely more on the self-regulation of the issuer, so the "regulatory endorsement" and transparency are not as strict as PAXG.

Redemption on XAUT usually requires operating in whole ounces, and sometimes mining fees or handling fees must be paid when exchanging. In comparison, MKS PAMP's DGLD is issued by the world's top precious metals refinery, and the minimum redemption share is as low as 1 gram, which is more flexible than the ounce threshold of PAXG and XAUT. On the other hand, one of the main difficulties in operating gold tokenization products is how to cover vault custody costs. Most products charge fees for casting and redemption, but MKS PAMP will waive related fees in the early stages of relaunching. The specific fees and online rhythm are subject to the official terms and announcements. In addition, MKS PAMP has pledged to support market making through its own trading department to enhance liquidity. These characteristics give DGLD a potential advantage in competition. Overall, the size of the tokenized gold market is still relatively small, and MKS PAMP, by planning its strength and experience, may be able to grab a share in this niche market.