GoldMint CEO Dmitry Pluschevskiy about GOLD mining and future of the project.
An update for this article was published on April 10, 2020.
Dear friends!
I am proud to announce the launch of a full beta testing of PoS mining in the MINT blockchain network. This will allow the owners of MNT (P) tokens to start mining and receive a remuneration in GOLD. This is something we have all been waiting for and now, finally, it has arrived.
Before revealing the details of testing, I would like to remind you of what the GoldMint project is, what the project team has already achieved and why the MNT (P) token has great prospects.
A general description of the project:
GoldMint is an innovative Fintech project with the main objective of issuing and administering the turnover of cryptocurrency GOLD tokenized pawnshop loans secured by gold.
The project includes the following components:
• GOLD cryptocurrency, with a price equal to the current value of a 999 sample troy gold ounce on the CME exchange.
• utility token MNT (P), which has various applications within the GoldMint ecosystem.
• MINT high-speed blockchain network, using a Proof-Of-Stake algorithm for consensus.
• CUSTODY BOT robotic repository, equipped with a diagnostic system for jewelry items.
How it works
1. When a person receives a loan at any of the partner pawn shops around the world secured on his gold product, it enters the Custody Bot repository mounted in this pawn shop or separately in other place. At the same time, the product passes through an automatic diagnostic system built into the Custody Bot. Information about the weight and gold standard of this product is recorded to the MINT blockchain network.
2. Based on the information received, an appropriate amount of the GOLD is automatically emitted in the MINT blockchain.
3. The GOLD cryptocurrency is sold at the current exchange price of gold. The GOLD transactions are also recorded in the MINT blockchain.
4. All changes in the MINT blockchain are recorded during the mining process by MNT (P) holders. Miners receive commissions from each transaction in the MINT blockchain.
5. Proceeds from sales of the GOLD cryptocurrency are invested in gold assets by the GoldMint company. More information about the structure of the investment is written below.
GOLD Cryptocurrency
GOLD is the name of the digital financial asset, the rights to which are protected by cryptographic keys.
All tokens are tied to specific addresses within the MINT blockchain network. In order to send this cryptocurrency from one address to another, one must have a crypto key that corresponds exactly to the address where this cryptocurrency is located. To transfer a cryptocurrency, you need to send the address of a transaction signed with the crypto key to the blockchain network. Once that is done, the balance of the sender and recipient address changes.
The cost of 1 GOLD is equal to the cost of 1 troy ounce of 24K gold on the LME (London Metal Exchange). Emission of GOLD cryptocurrency depends on the amount of the GOLD stored in the Custody Bots and it’s all recorded in the Mint blockchain.
The proceeds from the sale of GOLD cryptocurrency are divided into 4 parts:
• Up to 70% is invested in the Custody Bot loans.
• Up to 10% is invested in the purchase of hedging financial instruments, which is necessary due to possible changes in exchange rates.
• Up to 10% is used to buy / sell real gold in the form of scrap of unclaimed items from partner pawn shops.
• The rest of the funds remain in the company’s accounts in the form of cash and in the form of cryptocurrencies to provide immediate liquidity.
GoldMint’s income and balanced financial policy prevent the company from taking a commission from the buyers of GOLD cryptocurrency and to ensure the redemption of GOLD cryptocurrency at the price of gold — even when the cost of gold rises/increases.
We will stop the turnover of GOLD that was launched by us in 2018 on the basis of the Ethereum blockchain and that was secured only with physical gold. We will do this by buying all the ERC-20 GOLD at the price of gold. As the study of demand shows, people don’t really mind how the GOLD cryptocurrency is backed and whether it is bought on the stock exchange or stored at a pawn shop. It is important to receive additional benefits, such as buying /selling without commission.
We will launch a full-scale sale of GOLD after obtaining the appropriate permits and licenses. We will begin to actively advertise GOLD cryptocurrency and list them on the crypto exchanges. After that, the turnover of GOLD will grow significantly and the owners of MNTP will receive more and more remuneration.
The bulk selling of GOLD cryptocurrency is currently difficult due to the fact that there is no regulation of such activities in any of the countries. It is therefore still impossible to make transactions of money received from the sale of GOLD cryptocurrency through banks. The GoldMint legal team carefully monitors legal changes in different countries. We are not just waiting for the revision of the legislation, but have already been launching the test turnover of GOLD in the MINT blockchain and the exchange of GOLD to ETH.
In some countries, the turnover of basic cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and utility tokens is already regulated. Secured cryptocurrencies will become the next step in the development of cryptoeconomics. And we are fully prepared for leadership in this segment!
The reasons for people to buy GOLD cryptocurrency
Investing in gold as the most reliable asset has not lost its relevance and is still used throughout the world by individuals as well as large financial institutions.
But due to the complexity of logistics as well as the need for verification and tax-specific features in several countries, commission for buying/selling gold is sometimes more than tens percent. That makes it almost impossible to use it as a short-term investment instrument or as a mean of payment.
Numerous gold derivative financial instruments, such as ETF (Exchange Trading Funds) or DMA (Depersonalized Metal Accounts) also require a significant commission for buying/selling or servicing.
The GoldMint project will allow investors from all over the world to invest in GOLD cryptocurrency without commissions for buying/selling. This is possible by minimizing the cost of accounting for owners of GOLD due to blockchain technologies, and due to the fact that investing in chattel mortgages will bring the GoldMint company additional revenue to cover commissions.
GOLD cryptocurrency also has great prospects in cryptoeconomics as a stablecoin. The widespread disappointment in the USDT and the emergence of new stablecoins offer significant prospects for the GOLD cryptocurrency.
Obviously, the role of gold in the global financial system is strengthening again. This is due to the change in the general geopolitical situation in the world as well as the need of performing universal calculations in international trade. According to various initiatives since March 29, 2019, such as the adoption of the Bazel-III document, physical gold in bank assets was made equal to cash.
The total world portfolio of gold-backed pawn shop loans is more than $ 90 billion. This is about 70 million ounces. This gold is issued through more than 100,000 pawn shops around the world. This is enough for GOLD to become the main stable cryptocurrency.
MINT blockchain
This is the most important part of our project. We spent a lot of money and time on the development of our own blockchain network MINT. But it provides very good benefits to our project.
We need our own blockchain network for the following reasons:
• Legislation requires that you must have a software license that records the turnover of cryptocurrency to issue this currency.
• Increased security due to the implementation of its own logic of work in the master nodes without the use of smart contracts.
• Higher transaction speeds through the use of a proof-of-stake consensus algorithm.
• Fixed commissions for the transfer of cryptocurrency.
• Implementation of an economic model according to which the revenue from transactions is shared with owners of MNT (P) tokens.
At the ICO stage, we planned to implement a blockchain network based on Graphene. But after we have studied the market of possible offers, we realized that, due to several reasons, the solution from the Sumus team is better for us. This article describes the mathematical principle of solving the problem of the Byzantine generals, laid down by the Sumus team in the MINT blockchain.
In the current version of the MINT blockchain, there are two entities:
• GOLD cryptocurrency — emission and burning are centralized. The volume of the issue depends on the number of gold stored in the Custody Bots.
• Token MNT (P) — it is determined that there will be no more than 10,000,000 tokens.
The MINT blockchain has three main types of transactions:
• GOLD transactions from one address to another. The commission in GOLD is charged for the transaction. The amount of commissions is automatically calculated based on the number of MNT (P) tokens on the sender’s wallet according to the rules.
• MNT (P) token transactions from one address to another. A commission fee of 0.02 MNT (P) is charged for the transaction.
• Recording information of any type on the MINT blockchain can be paid for in MNT (P) tokens at a rate of 0.004 MNT (P) / byte.
Now we have a guaranteed blockchain data bandwidth of about 600 transactions per second. This is a very high data bandwidth and that’s enough for us. In the future we will be able to increase this figure.
All GOLD received as commissions go to the system wallet, and 75% of the total amount of these proceeds is distributed among the miners that are joined the pool.
The distribution is in proportion depends on MNT (P) amount on the wallet.
We have launched the test MINT blockchain network in the summer of 2018. The blockchain kernel continued to be developed during the entire autumn and winter — mining functions and the development of additional infrastructure elements:
- GoldMint Lite Wallet — extension for Chrome browser
- Web — scanner of transactions, blocks, nodes, wallets
- Pool for MNT (P) tokens based on Ethereum ERC-20 standard
- KYC / AML procedure for buyers of GOLD cryptocurrency
- API for service integration — third-party wallets or data loaders (sent by request)
Developing a new blockchain is a very time-consuming task. Errors can be found after the launch — even in projects with a development budget hundred times larger than those of the GoldMint company. Therefore, we carefully tested the blockchain for vulnerabilities. We have not published and do not plan to publish the source code of the MINT blockchain in the public domain. There are several reasons for this:
• Most users won’t receive any information — are there many people who have ever seen the source codes of the Ethereum or EOS networks?
• This will make it easier for hackers to attack at the early stages of project development.
We may publish some parts of the source code later. Next, we plan to continue developing the main MINT blockchain code.
• All the information about the MINT blockchain is collected in the WiKi.
Custody Bot
This is the unique invention of the GoldMint team — a fully automated pawn shop. It automatically checks the gold item, places it in a separate cell for storage and returns the item after repayment of the loan. Verification is carried out using a spectrometer and hydrostatic weighing. Money is transferred to customers’ bank cards.
Each partner pawnshop whose stocks, bonds, or loan portfolios will be purchased by GoldMint must be equipped with a Custody Bot automated repository. It is necessary to automate the process of auditing the pawnshop loan portfolio. In fact, a Custody Bot is a GOLD issuer and the custodian for our MINT blockchain — GOLD cryptocurrency is emitted based on the data received from it.
In addition to pawn shop activities, a Custody Bot can also carry out buy-ups activities — the process is the same. This allows substantially expanding the use of this device. It can also work as a normal vending machine or a delivery machine — free cells can be filled with products that can be sold via the internet or directly from the Custody Bot screen.
The Custody Bot demo was launched in September 2018.
Now the serial product is getting ready to production. In the serial product the diagnostic system has been significantly upgraded, the case protection has been enhanced, etc.
Members of the pawn shop community from different countries, banks and jewelry stores showed great interest in this device. In June 2019 we are going to test the device in a real retail jewelry network in Moscow.
We plan to allocate the development of the Custody Bot project into a separate subsidiary and to attract a financial investor, since significant investments are required for the mass production of large batches of the device. A partnership agreement on the development of a Custody Bot has recently been reached with one of the world’s largest fintech holdings.
Two things are important for owners of MNT (P) tokens:
• A Custody Bot saves each loan operation in the MINT blockchain and uses MNT (P) tokens to record information. That is, the more Custody Bots are installed in the MINT blockchain, the higher the demand and the price for MNT (P) will be.
• The Custody Bot franchise is planned to be developed as a separate direction — private entrepreneurs will be able to receive and use a Custody Bot on the basis of revenue sharing, by paying a franchise fee in MNT (P) tokens.
We have submitted an application to fintech sandbox of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation to change the legislation regarding the work of a Custody Bot offline. We are waiting for results in August 2019. We expect real mass sales and start of the Custody Bot operation no earlier than 2020.
MNT (P) token
The MNT (P) token is required for the following actions:
• Information recording to the MINT blockchain is paid for in MNT (P) tokens. Accordingly, all pawn shops using a Custody Bot need MNT (P) tokens to record information about pledges in the blockchain.
• Having a certain amount of MNTP allows a discount when sending GOLD. The more MNTP there are on the sender’s wallet, the lower the commission will be. The fee for sending GOLD is paid in GOLD
• There is no commission for buyers/sellers of GOLD cryptocurrency on the GoldMint website who have more than 10000 MNT (P) tokens.
A total amount of 10,000,000 MNT (P) tokens are issued in the Ethereum blockchain. All of them have already been released and are either with us or in circulation. We plan to correct the information on the CMC that only 20% of tokens are in circulation.
So far a total of 8,500,000 MNT (P) tokens are still under the control of GoldMint. We have several options on how to deal with them:
• To burn them. This will lead to very few tokens and we will not be able to get a sufficient number of Custody Bots. Also, we need funding for further development.
• To sell part of the tokens on the stock exchange — this will result in the loss in value and lower user confidence.
• To distribute them to the current MNT (P) holders — this will lead to a further loss in value. We have studied the experience of Airdrop shares — all of them ended with a drop in price.
Therefore, we decided that the best decision is to sell part of the MNT (P) tokens through a specially created smart contract. We have frozen 2,000,000 MNT(P) tokens in this smart contract, and as a result only tokens bought in it for ETH can be sold back to it for ETH before the expiration of the smart contract. In addition, it has a referral marketing system built into it — each buyer of tokens receives his personal link and can earn money by inviting other users. The smart contract is managed through the website etherama.io, which looks like an over-the-counter launch pad. We will not sell the remaining tokens for at least a year. It will be impossible to sell MNT (P) tokens purchased on the exchange or during ICO in a smart contract. They can only be sold through exchanges or used for mining. However, it is possible to sell tokens purchased in a smart contract on the exchange.
Very often people ask why the MNT (P) token price falls. Of course, I would prefer the price to grow constantly. However, I can not influence this process. If someone is ready to give away his MNT (P) tokens almost for free, it means that he either really needs some money, or he simply does not understand the prospects for the project. In my opinion, any startup that received funding would have such problems if it were possible to freely sell or buy its shares at an early stage of development. Any startup, which is exactly what GoldMint is, has to prove the benefits of its product in order to be popular with investors. GoldMint is a very complicated startup. It includes several brand-new inventions, and we are making the entire infrastructure for ourselves. Actually, we are creating a new market — just like Western Union has been doing since 1851, Paypal since 1998 or Bitcoin since 2009.
An additional impact on the cost of MNT (P) tokens were made by a large number of scam blockchain projects for which all the funds were spent, and a long drop in the cost of Bitcoin. Rightly so the year 2018 is now called “crypto winter”. I am glad that the team and I were able to use this time to our advantage and create real innovations.
I consider that the main reason for the growing interest of the community to the MNT (P) tokens is the possibility of using them for PoS mining. Unlike PoW mining, in PoS mining the decisive factors for profitability are not the amount of equipment and access to cheap electricity, but the existence of MNT (P) tokens. As there are only 10,000,000 MNT (P) tokens with an increase in the GOLD cryptocurrency turnover or the development of the Custody Bot network, the size of the commissions for 1 MNT (P) token will increase and the price will go up significantly as well.
What’s more, people often ask me why the MNT (P) token is not represented on the major exchanges. The answer is simple — it is very expensive and does not give any guarantee of the high cost of the token. We studied this question very carefully. There is no connection between the price of the token and its listing on any exchange. As the project develops, we will definitely make a listing on major exchanges, if there is an appropriate budget for this. The only platform where we precisely plan the listing is the masternodes.online CMC analog for projects with master nodes.
Today, MNT (P) tokens are represented on a sufficient number of sites:
• Bancor
• YoBit
• IDEX
• LiveCoin
For almost the entire 2018, we held marketing activities aimed at increasing the interest of the crypto community in the GoldMint project. Unfortunately, this did not lead to an increase in demand for the MNT (P) token, as the owner of the token would not receive any direct benefit. And it was already useless to advertise promises against the background of the fall of Bitcoin and the wave of scam projects. However, now, after the launch of mining, we will begin to actively promote our project. The problem is that publications in crypto media, direct advertising on social networks or participation in events don’t work anymore. Therefore, we will focus on referral marketing through the etherama.io platform.
In 2017, MNT tokens (pre-launch) were released on Ethereum and their full migration to the MINT blockchain into MNT tokens was planned after the launch. However, we changed our plans and decided to leave the MNT (P) tokens in the Ethereum blockchain, and the MNT tokens in the MINT blockchain. By doing that, the total number should not exceed 10 000 000 tokens. This is due to several reasons:
• Ethereum tokens are easier to integrate into numerous cryptocurrency exchanges. Full migration will destroy the distribution of tokens on existing exchanges, and new listings take a long time.
• We must be sure that the MINT blockchain is reliable before the final migration. If network vulnerabilities will be found after migration, users may lose their MNT (P) tokens.
Therefore, the migration is implemented as follows: to participate in the mining of ERC20, MNTP tokens must be held on the Ethereum pool contract, and, at the same time, the user is given the appropriate number of MNT tokens in the MINT blockchain at the rate of 1 MNT (P) = 1 MNT. Reverse migration of purchase is carried out manually at the user’s request. If there are any problems in the MINT blockchain, all users will be able to get their MNT (P) tokens back in the Ethereum blockchain.
Our plan for the coming year is as follows:
• To choose the jurisdiction to start sales of the GOLD cryptocurrency
• Launch of the MINT blockchain with mining in open beta mode
• Listing on masternodes.online
• Referral marketing campaign for MNT (P) token
• Testing Custody Bot in retail
• Preparing for the launch of Custody Bot 2.0 and taking orders for it
• To ensure after the legalization of the GOLD cryptocurrency its advertising and listing on cryptocurrency exchanges and on coinmarketcap.com
Testing details
The pawn shops chain MosGorLombard is currently connected to the MINT blockchain network. It is not equipped with a Custody Bot, but we emulate their work, keeping all information about real loans, returns and non-purchased products in the blockchain. The recording of this information is paid, as intended, with MNT (P) tokens.
Based on this information, we are starting to issue GOLD and emulate their movement to investors’ wallets. Along with this, the commission will be charged in GOLD cryptocurrency. To receive part of this commission, you need to run your own master node. Few steps to launch the master node:
1. Buy more than 10000.1 MNTP tokens on any exchange from the list.
2. Hold purchased tokens in the Ethereum Pool smart contract.
3. Create a Lite Wallet in the MINT blockchain, setting the extension for the Chrome browser.
4. Swap 10,000.1 MNTP (ERC20) to MNT (MINT) tokens and receive them to your Lite Wallet.
5. Deploy or rent a dedicated server with CentOS and run a master node on it.
6. Register your Lite wallet and your own master node in the MINT blockchain.
7. Receive rewards in GOLD
The received remuneration can be exchanged at goldmint.io to ETH or sent to any other wallet in the MINT blockchain.
P.S. Easy way to receive your first GOLD tokens is just to repost this article. More information here.
ATTENTION! Testing has no restrictions on the time or amount of remuneration paid. In case of emergency situations, the blockchain can be restarted. When this happens, information about the wallets may be reset. We are not responsible for any losses due to abnormal operations of the blockchain during the test period.
