Digital gold platform SafeGold has partnered with jewellery retailer BlueStone to launch a platform that allows consumers to convert idle physical gold into digital gold, lease it out and earn an annual yield of around 4% in gold grams, in a move aimed at mobilising India’s vast stock of household gold and reducing dependence on imports.
The initiative enables customers to bring old gold jewellery or coins to BlueStone stores, where the gold will be assayed and converted into digital gold through SafeGold’s platform. Customers can then lease the digital gold and earn returns denominated in gold rather than rupees, allowing their holdings to grow in grams irrespective of price movements.
India is estimated to hold nearly 30,000 tonnes of household gold, much of which remains locked away in homes and bank lockers. SafeGold believes bringing even a fraction of this stock into the formal ecosystem can reduce fresh gold imports while improving capital availability for the jewellery industry.
“We are sitting on one of the largest reserves of idle household gold in the world, yet most of it earns nothing for its owners. Converting physical gold to digital gold allows customers to grow their gold holdings not just in value, but also in grams,” said Gaurav Mathur, Founder and CEO of SafeGold. He added that the partnership with BlueStone is intended to make gold monetisation mainstream while helping lower India’s reliance on imported gold.
Gaurav Kushwaha, Founder and CEO of BlueStone, said the retailer’s nationwide network would help collect domestic gold while providing customers with a transparent route to participate in the jewellery supply chain.
Unlike traditional fixed deposits that pay interest in cash, the returns from this programme are credited in gold grams. According to the companies, the process involves customers depositing their physical gold, which is then assayed, digitised and leased through the SafeGold platform.
