A gold-backed token next to a dealer's gold account and a bar in a box
If you already buy gold here you have met at least two of these three: a gold account run by a dealer or a bank, where your position is a line in their ledger, and metal you took away and put in a box. A gold-backed token is the third. The useful question is not what the token is called, but what changes across the three in three specific places — what your claim is against, who is physically holding the metal, and who quotes you a price when you want out.
AYNI Gold — key figures
The programme these pages describe — AYNI Gold: participation tied to a licensed Peruvian gold operation, with rewards measured and paid in metal (PAXG) rather than in a project token.
*Target Variable Reward is a target, not a guarantee; actual rewards vary and may be zero.
What your claim is against, in each case
A dealer's gold account is a claim on the dealer. The metal behind it may be pooled, your position is a number in books you cannot read, and if the firm fails you are a creditor arguing about that number. A bar you have collected is not a claim at all — it is property in your hands, and nobody's balance sheet mentions it. A gold-backed token sits between the two: PAXG is a claim on Paxos Trust, regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services, against vaulted metal, and the claim is recorded on Ethereum rather than in a private ledger.
Who is holding the metal while you hold the claim
Storage decides most of the practical difference. With a dealer account the firm stores it and the arrangement is theirs to change. With your own bar, storage is your problem — a box, a yearly fee, and an insurance question that starts the day you carry it home. With a token the metal stays in the issuer's vault, but the thing you hold sits in a wallet whose keys are yours; AYNI Gold participants use TurnKey self-custody for exactly that reason. Notice what has happened: the custody problem moved from the metal to the key. It did not disappear.
The way out: who quotes you a price
This is where the three separate hardest. A dealer buys back at his own two prices and the distance between them is his fee — immediate, convenient, and set by one counterparty. A bar sold back invites a second question, about the bar itself: who made it, is the seal intact, does it need re-checking. A token has neither problem and a different one instead: it trades wherever it is listed, in fractions, at whatever the market says at that moment, and PAXG can additionally be redeemed with its issuer under that issuer's terms. None of the three is simply better. They fail in different places, and the choice is really about which failure you would rather handle.
Where AYNI Gold sits in this picture
AYNI Gold does not issue a token of this kind — it pays in one. Rewards from the programme are distributed in PAXG, so the third column above is the form your reward arrives in, whichever way you hold the rest of your gold. The reward itself comes from a licensed Peruvian gold operation under INGEMMET concession #070011405 and follows the formula extraction − operating costs − programme fee; it is variable and may be zero. What the PAXG leg adds is one thing only: the payout is measured in metal rather than in a project's own token.
| — | Dealer gold account | Bar you collected | Gold-backed token (PAXG) |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you hold | A line in the firm’s ledger | The metal itself | A token recorded on Ethereum |
| The claim is against | The dealer or the bank | Nobody — it is property | Paxos Trust, against vaulted metal |
| Who stores the metal | The firm, on its own terms | You — box, yearly fee, insurance | The issuer’s vault; your keys hold the token |
| Smallest piece you can hold | Whatever the firm allows | The bar you bought | A fraction of a token |
| The way out | The firm’s own buy-back price | A shop, once it has checked the bar | Market price where it is listed; redemption with the issuer |
| What can go wrong | The firm fails or changes terms | Loss, theft, a doubt about the bar | Lost keys; issuer or contract risk |
FAQ
- Is a dealer's gold account the same thing as a gold-backed token?
- No, and the difference is who you are exposed to. A dealer account is a position in that firm's ledger and a claim on that firm. A gold-backed token such as PAXG is a claim on its issuer against vaulted metal, and the holding itself sits in your own wallet.
- I already keep a bar in a safe deposit box. What would a token change?
- Mostly storage and divisibility. The bar makes storage and insurance your responsibility and moves in one lump; a token keeps the metal in the issuer's vault and lets you hold and move fractions. In exchange you take on key security and issuer risk.
- Can I sell a gold-backed token back the way a shop buys back a bar?
- Not across a counter. It trades on the market where it is listed, and PAXG can also be redeemed with its issuer under that issuer's terms. There is no single dealer quoting you both sides of a price.
- Does AYNI Gold issue its own gold-backed token?
- No. AYNI Gold runs a participation programme tied to a licensed gold operation and distributes rewards in PAXG, which is issued by Paxos. Rewards are variable and may be zero.