Tradewind Markets, a financial technology company enabling physical assets to be settled and mobilized through digitization, has announced the first ever trade using Tradewind ORIGINS, its provenance management solution.
This transaction between Agnico Eagle Mines and
Bank of Montreal (BMO), confirmed by the Royal Canadian Mint, marks the first
time economic segregation — typically used with carboncredits — and blockchain technology have been used
for precious metals supply chain management.
This allows purchasers of Tradewind’s VaultChain products to choose suppliers that meet their requirements, while addressing the market’s need for transparency.
Economic, social, and governance (ESG) standards for precious metal miners are becoming increasingly important and investors make more decisions based on ESG performance.
“By differentiating their metals, companies are unlocking the latent value of their production”
Tradewinds CEO
“This
is a long-awaited development for precious metals markets, Michael Albanese,
Tradewind Markets’ CEO said. “By delivering meaningful data on how, when, and
where these assets were sourced we are providing the ecosystem with greater
visibility into the precious metals global supply chain. By differentiating
their metals, companies are unlocking the latent value of their production.”
Suppliers of precious metals record detailed
information about the provenance and supply chain of the products they mine and
source using Tradewind ORIGINS prior to delivery to a participating refiner.
Refiners accept delivery of the material, confirm
the ORIGINS data provided by the miner or supplier, and embed the information
into digital records of ownership on the Tradewind Platform.
Market participants can then trade precious metals
credits on the Tradewind Platform, with visibility into the original supplier
and refiner of the metal. In this transaction, Agnico Eagle has sold 5,000
ounces of LBMA-good delivery gold from its flagship LaRonde mine, in Quebec,
Canada to BMO.
The Royal Canadian Mint will refine gold from
Agnico and tag the digital records of ownership with Agnico’s self-reported
provenance information, including the origin of the metal, adhering to high ESG
standards.