The digital currency industry has entered a period of explosive growth. Goldlinks is capitalizing on this momentum by accelerating its global expansion and rolling out new applications, establishing a footprint across Singapore, China, Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam. At the same time, Goldlinks is continuing to expand its application ecosystem in emerging markets: Southeast Asia, and Vietnam in particular, are now a core part of the company's development strategy.
In Southeast Asia, the digital economy has flourished thanks to the region's large population, high smartphone penetration, rapid economic growth, and progressive government attitudes towards blockchain technology. This paints a rosy picture for the blockchain and digital asset industries.
In order to tap this promising market, Goldlinks has been exploring new applications for its technology. In Southeast Asia, it already offers online gaming, cross-border tourism, and new retail solutions.
In a further show of the company’s commitment to the Southeast Asian market, on July 26 Goldlinks CEO Ouyang Yun made an appearance at Cointime Summit 2019 in Ho Chi Minh City, where he presented a speech on “The return to the essence of credit under a digital financial system” and aired his views on blockchain technology and developing ecosystems.
Ouyang noted, "The true value of the blockchain is only realized when it is used in commercial applications. In the digital economy, new business scenarios will run on top of digital financial infrastructure, and a new medium will be needed to exchange and store value.” This new medium that Ouyang referred to is known as a ‘stablecoin’.
Stablecoins can be grouped into several categories: some are pegged to fiat currencies; others are backed by physical assets or cryptocurrencies; while others still rely on algorithms.
Although Ouyang thinks that Bitcoin is a great invention that will gradually become less volatile, he doesn't foresee this happening until 2140, the year in which the last Bitcoin will be mined. Prior to that date, Ouyang esteems that Bitcoin will be too unstable for use as a medium of exchange. With concern to algorithmic stablecoins, Ouyang admires how these replicate the rules of central bank money creation, but warned that they could fall into a ‘death spiral’ in the event of a market crash. Finally, with respect to cryptocurrency-backed stablecoins, Ouyang observed that token holders may be forced to add to or liquidate their collateral as a result of volatility in the underlying virtual asset, rendering this category of stablecoin unfit for purpose.
For countries with relatively weak sovereign currencies, fiat-backed stablecoins might not be the fairest or most convenient monetary alternative, whether they're pegged to a single fiat currency like Tether, or backed by a basket of fiat currencies like Libra (according to Facebook's blockchain lead, David Marcus, the basket will contain the U.S. dollar, euro, pound sterling, and yen).
When compared to the above, a gold-backed stablecoin may prove to be a fairer, more liquid option.
Gold has been used as a means of exchange and unit of account for several millennia; it was only in the last 100 years that the world moved off the gold standard. Yet despite having lost its currency status for several decades, many people have continued to use gold as a store of wealth, inflation hedge, and safe-haven asset during times of recession or financial crisis.
Goldlinks CEO Ouyang Yun broached this subject at the Vietnam summit: He highlighted the intrinsic value of gold and how blockchain technology has enabled the decentralization of trust. Ouyang believes that a token backed by both gold and blockchain technology will command more trust, enabling it to achieve the broadest degree of recognition.
Goldlinks has harnessed blockchain technology to tokenize physical gold and create a highly-divisible gold-backed stablecoin called Global Gold Coins (GGC).
Gold is a universal store of wealth and unit of account that transcends national boundaries. It is immune to sovereign risk and can be used as a hedge against currency volatility. Moreover, by converting gold into a digital token, GGC makes gold highly divisible and portable, transforming this once-dormant asset into a highly-liquid token that can be freely exchanged on a blockchain.
In addition to establishing a digital ecosystem based on the GGC token, Goldlinks is also building a global community of users. To organize and engage this community, Goldlinks has created a community governance token called Global Gold Token (GGT) that can be used to manage member rights and create incentives. The GGT token represents the commercial value of the entire Goldlinks platform. Under this dual-token arrangement, the value of GGT will increase as GGC gains adoption. Moreover, each gain in the value of GGT will further drive development and adoption of GGC, helping to form a virtuous cycle.