Gold Bar Integrity Program Gold Bar Integrity (GBI) Program Focus Area Gold provenance, authenticity and supply chain transparency Application Distributed ledger-based database to record gold-bar identity and support tracking across the supply chain Recent Deployment The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) reported that all Good Delivery List refiners were onboarded to the GBI database by the start of 2026. From April 2026, refiners could begin voluntary periodic reporting of gold country-of-origin data, improving supply-chain transparency. Future Outlook The World Gold Council and LBMA aim to expand participation across the gold supply chain, strengthening provenance verification and responsible-sourcing transparency as the database develops. Source: World Gold Council and LMBA Wholesale Digital Gold Wholesale Digital Gold Focus Area Gold provenance, authenticity and supply chain transparency Application Pooled Gold Interests (PGIs) could enable fractional ownership, easier transfers between parties and the use of gold as collateral Recent Deployment In March 2026, the WGC announced Gold as a Service, a shared infrastructure concept for digital gold products. It is designed to standardise custody coordination, reconciliation, compliance and redemption, supporting more interoperable digital-gold products. Future Outlook The framework could support broader wholesale adoption of digital gold, enabling gold interests to move more easily between market participants and be used in financing. Further market implementation would depend on industry participation and adoption of the proposed legal framework. Source: World Gold Council Standard Gold Unit Standard Gold Unit (SGU) Focus Area Standardized digital representation of gold value and physical bar attributes Application A digital unit representing a defined monetary quantity of gold, supported by a separate record of physical bar details such as purity, weight and location Recent Deployment In June 2026, DBS announced plans to offer DBS Physical Gold Tokens, each backed by one gram of physical gold held in a dedicated Singapore vault. The offering was planned for retail customers through DBS digibank in the second half of 2026. Future Outlook The concept could support more interoperable digital gold assets, simplify transfers across platforms and expand gold's potential use in settlement and collateral arrangements. Wider implementation would require industry coordination and compatible legal and technical standards. Source: World Gold Council and DBS Newsroom Share this article