Tiberius Group AG, a Swiss asset management company is launching a cryptocurrency backed by seven precious metals, in a first-such-instance. The company handles over $350 million in investor assets and is one of the largest equity funds in Switzerland.

Gold Crypto

As reported by Bloomberg on Sept. 27, the company will issue the aptly-branded Tiberius Coin later this year and places the initial price at $0.70. The token is complaint with Swiss law and shall be backed by copper, aluminum, nickel, cobalt, tin, gold, and platinum.

The team shall be led by Giuseppe Rapallo, the CEO of Tiberius Technology Venture, who stated the decision to back the token with seven metals is for diversification purposes, as well as hedging against risk in case a particular asset falls in price. In addition, the token is made more lucrative for investors.

Coin supply will be based on supply and demand, instead of having a fixed cap. However, supply shall be limited by the underlying reserves of metals owned by Tiberius. Trading will commence on Estonia-based cryptocurrency exchange LaToken, as they offer relaxed clauses to list newer tokens and meet all minimum regulatory standards.

Meanwhile, other metal-based cryptocurrencies have been launched in the past to no substantial traction. But, in the economies of Dubai, Malaysia, and other Islamic regions, several tokens backed by gold and silver have been to moderate local success. Examples of these include OneGram and GoldCrypto, with the former boasting of a Shariah-compliant certification to apply to Islamic economies.

Not Everyone Impressed

Despite the innovative conceptualizations, industry observers express caution over gold and precious metal-backed cryptocurrencies launching in the market.

Adrian Ash, the research director of gold custodial BullionVault, expresses his concerns:

“They’re trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist — all of this can be achieved without the additional cost of a distributed ledger.”

Cryptocurrency companies continue to lure investors with various features to set themselves apart from other crypto assets–which are criticized for not being backed by real-world commodities.

Such a firm is Swiss physical commodities exchange Open Mineral, which announced in July 2018 its plans to develop a blockchain-based mineral trading system in partnership with Ethereum incubator ConsenSys Labs. At the time, the company stated its native blockchain seeks to “simplify the trading process, and increase efficiency and profitability.”