Best known for its use within the banking and finance sector, Ripple has recently partnered with a Slovenian company (BPG Group) to facilitate the exchange of physical metals using its consensus ledger technology.

While primarily a metal refining outfit, BPG Group has also been associated with other ventures related to fund-management, recycling, refining in the past. With this latest partnership, they aim to release a new gateway called eMetals that will provide users with an alternative way to invest in and trade physical metals.

BPG Set to Launch a New Ripple Gateway Called ‘eMetals’ https://t.co/031jLogpCo — BPG Group (@BPG_XAU) April 3, 2018

As per the company’s recent press release, eMetals will utilize the existing operational framework of London Precious Metal Clearing Limited while offering the transparency of an exchange-traded asset. The document also reads:

“Distributed ledger technology is a game changer and supplying metals on the Ripple blockchain is solving many challenges that have traditionally been part of the user experience with exchange-traded funds or physical precious metals. Ripple implementation in metals trading is just the start of the adoption of blockchain technology which will radically transform this market sector.”

In-Depth Look

BPG is no stranger to the crypto market; in fact, it’s gold-backed altcoin XAU has already been in circulation worldwide for some time now. Additionally, the company has a solid market record and has outperformed institutional gold bullion providers such as GBI International in recent years.

Some of the key points regarding this new project include:

Investors will be presented with the opportunity of trading in Gold, Silver, Platinum, Palladium, and Rhodium.

Trading services will be available 24/7, 365 days a year.

All physical commodities will be either stored in a privately owned vault or with Malca Amit, a security carrier company affiliated with LBMA.

Procured IOUs will symbolize physical ownership of fine metals.

Asset holders will have the option of requesting physical delivery of their metals directly from BPG.

BPG will maintain active buy and sell orders with a specified maximum bid-offer spread.

Looking Ahead

Ripple has been creating waves within the crypto market in recent months, and this latest venture only adds to its list of novel use cases.

In the past, the company has teamed up with big names such as Santander, BBVA, Moneygram to facilitate cross-border transactions using its native XCurrent and Xrapid platforms. However, with this latest move, Ripple can potentially enter and gain a strong foothold in an untapped trillion dollar market.

The first iteration of eMetal is expected to release in the first week of May.