By Amanda Lee
Singapore's DBS Group is planning to offer tokenized physical gold as the city-state aims to strengthen its role as a precious metal hub.
DBS's physical gold tokens are the first such offering in Singapore that would allow retail customers to digitally access, hold and trade tokenized physical gold, the bank said Thursday.
Tokenisation ?means that ownership of a real asset is represented by a blockchain token that can be traded electronically.
Each token is backed by one gram of physical gold held by DBS in a vault in Singapore and will be available through its digital application in the second half of the year, it said.
"The launch reflects a growing trend as real-world asset tokenization continues to reshape how investors access traditional asset classes," DBS said.
Volatility in gold trading had increased in recent months, partly because of the conflict in the Middle East and its impact on oil prices, inflation and Federal Reserve policy expectations. Gold prices have pulled back recently after rising above $5,000 a troy ounce for the first time in January.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Singapore Bullion Market Association in March said they would explore ways to meet growing interest among investors to vault and trade gold in the city-state.
Write to Amanda Lee at amanda.lee@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
06-11-26 0102ET
