Despite the current small market size of gold tokens, MKS PAMP's industry background and product design give it significant potential in the RWA (Real World Asset) space.
Written by: Zen, PANews
In the current global trend of accelerating gold on-chain, there are not many traditional giants that have truly entered the RWA space from the source of gold bars. MKS PAMP, a precious metals group headquartered in Switzerland, is one of the few: it controls a complete supply chain from refining, wholesale trading to branded gold bars, and is determined to repackage the physical gold in its vaults into digital assets that can circulate on public chains.
Six years ago, it participated in the launch of the early gold token DGLD, but quickly fell silent due to premature timing and an immature market. Now, as the market size of gold tokens represented by Tether Gold (XAUT) and Paxos Gold (PAXG) approaches billions of dollars and the RWA narrative heats up, MKS PAMP has brought DGLD back to the forefront by acquiring Gold Token SA.
Integrated Leader in Precious Metals
MKS PAMP Group is a family-owned precious metals group based in Geneva, Switzerland, with large refineries in Switzerland and India, and operates businesses in precious metals trading, minting, supply chain distribution, and online retail.
Among MKS PAMP's products, the most well-known is its small gold bar featuring the "Lady Fortuna" relief pattern, launched in 1979, which became the first precious metal brand to decorate the back of its minted gold bars. Today, "Lady Fortuna" is one of the most recognized series of investment gold bars globally, widely regarded as a high-end brand in markets such as Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
Additionally, MKS PAMP has been certified by authoritative organizations in the global over-the-counter precious metals market, including the LBMA (London Bullion Market Association) and LPPM (London Platinum and Palladium Market), allowing its gold bars to be directly used for settlement in core markets like London and Zurich. Furthermore, PAMP has long been recognized by the LBMA as a "Good Delivery Referee," taking on roles in industry standards, inspection, and arbitration, with only 7 companies worldwide selected for this status.
Thus, benefiting from Switzerland's pivotal position in the global gold refining supply chain, MKS PAMP serves large clients such as central banks and mining companies, while also reaching individual investors through its distribution network and online channels, making it a typical integrated "leading player" in the precious metals industry. According to Bloomberg, MKS PAMP's trading business accounts for about 5% of the gold trading volume in the London market, making it a top liquidity provider in this largest global gold trading center.
In recent years, MKS PAMP Group has continued to expand, establishing a silver mint in a former hangar in Florida in 2024, and setting up a regional headquarters in Hong Kong in October this year to seize global gold and silver demand growth opportunities. In addition to physical space 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 serious foray into gold tokenization can be traced back six years.
In October 2019, CoinShares, in collaboration with MKS PAMP and Blockchain.com, launched a gold tokenization product called "DGLD." Each DGLD is backed by physical gold, with custody and refining managed by PAMP, using sidechain technology within the Bitcoin ecosystem as the accounting and transfer medium. The goal was to combine the "value stability of gold" with the "security of the Bitcoin network," providing a more transferable and programmable way for institutions and high-net-worth clients to hold gold.
The official promotion at the time emphasized several selling points: it was backed 1:1 by physical gold and was "allocated gold" (allocated and named custody); the custody was in Switzerland, and the gold bars met LBMA standards, produced and quality controlled by PAMP; through the cooperative platform, holders could exchange the tokens for physical gold bars or transfer and trade on supported digital platforms.
From a technical perspective, the first version of DGLD chose Bitcoin-related infrastructure rather than the then-nascent Ethereum DeFi ecosystem. This was related to the project team's considerations: they valued Bitcoin's narrative as a "store of value" and its relatively conservative user base over high-frequency trading and complex contracts.
However, the project quickly fell silent. The project team admitted that the market demand for gold tokens in 2019 was still very early, and the awareness, compliance pathways, and infrastructure for both institutions and retail investors were not ready to support a sufficiently large scale. Overall, MKS PAMP's participation in the DGLD project was more of a concept validation and product trial for gold tokenization.
Acquisition of Crypto Technology Company to Restart DGLD Project
In November 2025, MKS PAMP announced the full acquisition of Gold Token SA (GTSA), the actual issuer of the DGLD project, which was registered in Geneva in 2018. After the acquisition, GTSA will restart the DGLD gold tokenization business as a tokenization institution under MKS PAMP. Learning from past experiences, MKS PAMP has made comprehensive "upgrades" in technology, compliance, and liquidity this time.
First, the DGLD token will no longer focus on the relatively niche Bitcoin sidechain ecosystem but will be issued based on mainstream public chains like Ethereum, using standard smart contract protocols and planning for cross-chain or multi-chain compatibility. 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 like Ethereum clearly aligns better with the current industry infrastructure reality.
MKS PAMP stated that the newly issued DGLD still corresponds to a certain weight of physical gold and is sold only to certified institutional investors, focusing on providing a "on-chain gold" tool for institutional investors, family offices, and entities holding large amounts of crypto assets for hedging volatility, collateral, or balance sheet management. Regarding compliance issues, the operating entity Gold Token SA is headquartered in Switzerland and is regulated by the self-regulatory organization VQF under the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA).
In the previous DGLD project six years ago, insufficient market adoption and liquidity were one of the biggest shortcomings. To address this issue, MKS PAMP plans to provide liquidity for DGLD through its trading department and partners, and institutions holding DGLD can also sell on secondary cryptocurrency exchanges to avoid a situation like in 2019 where liquidity gradually dried up.
According to Gold Token SA CEO Kurt Hemecker, the restart of DGLD is still in preparation, and it is likely to first unfold in the decentralized space. Kurt himself is also an experienced player in the crypto industry, having served as CEO of the lightweight public chain Mina Foundation and Chief of Staff for Meta's stablecoin Diem (formerly Libra). After being acquired and joining MKS PAMP, Kurt will serve as the group's Head of Digital Assets.
What Advantages Does MKS PAMP Have Compared to Existing Gold Tokens?
As interest in digital gold continues to grow, there are already various digital gold token solutions in the market, with major players including Paxos Gold's PAXG and Tether Gold's XAUT.
The PAXG token issued by Paxos Trust corresponds to one troy ounce of LBMA-certified allocated gold. PAXG is regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), and the custodian publishes audit reports monthly. Investors can exchange 430 PAXG tokens for LBMA quality delivery gold bars (400 troy ounces, about 12.5 kilograms) or withdraw in USD. PAXG has high transparency and regulatory backing, and trading is relatively active, but the entry threshold is high, and there are certain fees for minting and redeeming.
XAUT is a token launched by Tether Gold in 2020, with each XAUT pegged to 1 ounce of physical gold stored in Swiss vaults. Tether claims that XAUT corresponds 1:1 with physical gold and provides online tools to verify bar numbers. Compared to PAXG, XAUT's issuer lacks similar traditional financial license regulation, and its disclosure framework and audit standards rely more on self-regulation by the issuer, making it less stringent than PAXG in terms of "regulatory backing" and transparency. XAUT typically also requires redemption in whole ounces, and sometimes there are miner fees or transaction fees during the exchange.
In contrast, MKS PAMP's DGLD is issued by a top global precious metals refinery, with a minimum redemption amount as low as 1 gram, making it more flexible compared to the ounce thresholds of PAXG and XAUT. On the other hand, a major challenge in operating gold tokenization products is how to cover vault custody costs; most products charge fees during the minting and redemption phases, but in the initial restart phase, MKS PAMP will waive related fees. Future specific fees and launch schedules will still depend on official terms and announcements.
Additionally, MKS PAMP promises to support market-making with its own trading department to enhance liquidity. These features give DGLD potential advantages in competition. Overall, the current tokenized gold market size is still relatively small, and MKS PAMP, leveraging its strength and experience, may capture a share in this niche market.
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