When I talk to people about Goldbacks I sometimes get asked about the ‘high premium’. I’m usually quick to mention that Goldbacks have the lowest premium of any 1/1000th of an ounce gold product in the world. Under 100% a premium. Then I make the case that if someone is paying $3.50 for a Goldback then they could probably trade it for $3.50 (or more) so there is no value lost. Finally, I will concede that if the goal is price exposure to gold then it makes more sense to own coins or bars.
But is that true? When Goldbacks launched about 9 months ago the price was $2.25 per Goldback. Since that time the price has gone up to $3.00! That is about a 33% increase in just 9 months. As dollars are being produced in record numbers, the value of the Goldback measured in dollars will inevitably continue to rise. I’m going to have to stop apologizing for Gold price exposure though, as an investment Goldbacks have not been disappointing. In fact, I can prove it.
In 9 months about $2,000,000 worth of Goldbacks have been sold with a third of that being in the past month alone. Out of all of the Goldbacks ever sold only about $2,000 worth have ever been redeemed for cash. Meaning that 99.9% of time, users intend to store or circulate Goldbacks rather than turning them into cash through a dealer. (it was a total of three small transactions where the person got 100% of their money back each time). This bodes well for the Goldback project. People want to keep them and people are happy with the gold currency. They should be. It is best real money that has ever existed.