The 3,000oz gold deposit is valued at US$4 million. It came from the Red Lake Gold complex in northwestern Ontario and will be used to back the new digital trading currency now that it is at the Royal Canadian Mint in Ottawa.

Goldcorp said the deposit is the first example of blockchain technology being used for physical precious metal recording and management in an institutional setting. It will now be able to sell gold directly to dealers and banks using the Tradewind platform.

“We are excited to be an investor in Tradewind and participate in the launch of VaultChain, a cutting-edge technology that integrates physical gold into a blockchain," president and CEO David Garofalo said. 

“We believe physical gold stored on a blockchain will increase the utility of the commodity and, ultimately, drive value in the price of gold.  We are thrilled to be an early adopter of this 21st century platform and deposit its first bar of gold.” 

He also likened the potential of Tradewind to change gold investment, much like EFTs more than a decade ago.

Matt Trudeau, president and co-founder of Tradewind, added that the company hopes other producers like Goldcorp will use the technology to overcome existing limitations and “move into the electronic age”.

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