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Glint Special Report: 10 Years of Atlas Pulse

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Charlie Morris has been publishing his widely-read Atlas Pulse report for a decade. It all started in 2012 when he was in Hong Kong on a business trip. He bumped into Jason Cozens, an old school friend, in the hotel lobby and they got talking about gold.

Jason had set up Gold Made Simple (an online gold bullion dealership he set up before Glint). He wanted some gold commentary for his site and asked Charlie to help. He agreed but as he was working for HSBC, he did so under the pseudonym Atlas Pulse.

It led to a data-driven approach to gold analysis, which was needed at the time, as the discussion was limited to barbarous relic, conspiracy theories and the collapse of civilization. How little has changed!

Atlas Pulse created the gold regime model, the valuation model, and hard-to-create charts such as this little beauty.

Whatever you might think of gold, its aggregate value is just 27.7% of US equities, when in the past it has been over 140% during times of war or stress. Upside for sure.

In late 2013, Charlie “went nuts” about bitcoin, with the maiden call to expect an 80% price drop, but not to worry about that because it was going places thereafter. That proved correct, and he was so excited at the time that he founded ByteTree – a spin-off from Atlas Pulse, you might say.

In 2015, he was banging the drum to buy bitcoin at $300 as the 200-day moving average turned positive. More importantly, Atlas Pulse published the early bitcoin valuation metrics, such as the network to spend ratio, which was “reinvented” by Willy Woo in 2017 as the Network to Transaction Value ratio in 2017 (NVT).

One reader was Merryn Somerset-Webb, the editor of Money Week, and when Charlie left the bank in 2015, she asked him if he could write the Fleet Street Letter. That letter is still going strong seven years later.

In the end, all of these great things end up on ByteTree! It’s like a magnet for good ideas. And what would you do if you had spent several years writing about bitcoin and gold? You’d put them together in BOLD, which combines bitcoin and gold and rebalances monthly according to the inverse historic volatility (360-day) of each asset! Another Atlas Pulse spin-off.

In a sample of 500 equity ETFs, only five have 5-star trends on ByteTrend (ByteTree’s hugely popular trend analysis tool), when measured in BOLD, and they are all centred around Brazil and oil. Over half of the entire universe has 0-star trends when measured in BOLD, including the S&P 500, US Quality Factor, China, Japan, Developed Property, Quality dividend, Semiconductors and so on.

Looking to allocate to the world’s two most liquid alternative assets on a risk-weighted basis? Look no further than ByteTree BOLD.

 

 

ATLAS PULSE GOLD REPORT

Issue 76

by Charlie Morris

 

As a multi-asset fund manager by trade, I wanted to know the times you need to own gold and those you don’t. Through luck or judgement, the track record over ten years has been excellent.

Highlights

  • MACRO: Dollar valuation screams bubble
  • VALUATION: Gold is 20% overvalued, but fortunately bonds are wrong
  • REGIME: Reiterating bull market#
  • FLOWS: Let’s not forget China

 

MACRO

The recent slump in the pound was accompanied by a slump in the Yen, Swedish Krona, the Euro, and others. There was even a slump in gold when measured in dollar terms. There comes a time when you ask the question; maybe it’s the dollar?

Using purchasing power parity (long-term inflation differentials), I have valued the dollar on a weighted basis against the JPY, EUR, GBP, SEK, NOK, CHF, AUD and CAD. The dollar trades at a premium to all of them, the smallest being CHF at 3% and the largest, JPY at 48%.

The result is that the US dollar is 26% overvalued against a global basket of developed currencies. That beats 19% in late 2001 but lags the 34% premium logged in 1985. As US exporters lobbied for a weaker dollar, this led to the Plaza Accord, which brought down the value of the dollar through currency intervention.

In the end, there wasn’t much intervention. The overvaluation of the dollar caused US CPI to collapse. US interest rates generally fell faster than elsewhere, and the dollar duly fell. By 1995, the dollar was dirt cheap.

The dollar is in a bubble


Source: Bloomberg

It struck me that perhaps dollar valuation would impact gold. It turns out that it does, and by much more than the move in the exchange rate. In the chart below, I have highlighted the dollar highs to lows from the chart above with the gold price overlaid.

Gold likes a falling dollar


Source: Bloomberg

It is clear that gold likes the dollar to fall and vice versa, yet these moves can far exceed the inverse of the dollar move. In dollar bull markets, gold has been weak, and in bear markets, gold has been strong.

In period 2, you might say that a 28% gain isn’t much, but given real interest rates averaged 2.5% over the 10-year period, a positive return was a result. Normally speaking, positive real rates that high would cause gold to be crushed.

The point is that in my first decade writing Atlas Pulse, the dollar has been strong. Now it is massively overvalued, and we can look forward to a weaker dollar over the next decade. This will provide tailwinds for gold and is a good time to reiterate my forecast of $7,000 by 2030. That was published in LBMA’s Alchemist back in 2020.

VALUATION

There is just one small problem: gold’s valuation also seems to be high according to my model. Gold is now on a 23% premium to fair value, which is below $1,400.

Source: ByteTree Terminal. ByteTree Gold Fair Value and gold price.

The model is driven by bond yields and inflation. If you would like to understand more, I wrote this explanation for the World Gold Council.

Remarkably, I have not changed the model since 2013, and the price and fair value have seen an R squared of 0.86, which is an excellent fit. More to the point, this has been the most accurate gold valuation model in the world, and unlike most gold valuation models, the gold price is not even an input.

Valuation is all about the margin of safety. It is useful for analysing risk in the short-term and for estimating returns over the long term. Put simply, gold bought cheaply will deliver higher returns than gold bought at a premium. It’s as simple as that.

With gold in dollars, we have gold that is slightly overvalued (bad for gold), yet so is the dollar (good for gold). Might they cancel each other out?

I have added the gold premium with the dollar discount. In 2001, gold was undervalued while the dollar was overvalued. On that basis, gold in 2001 was 70% undervalued and very bullish for gold. No wonder the next decade turned out so well.

Gold risk – the gold premium plus the dollar discount highlights maximum risk


Source: Bloomberg

Then in 2011, the dollar was undervalued while gold was overvalued. That showed how gold was firmly in bubble territory and at risk. Today, with both the dollar and gold overvalued at the same time, they cancel each other out. In dollar terms, at least, gold is fine.

But the reason gold has jumped to a premium is currently the same as why the dollar has jumped to a premium. Real interest rates have surged under General Jay’s (Powell) assault on markets as he tries to recreate his version of 2008.

Rising interest rates have led to rising 20-year bond yields (gold’s sweet spot black line). That has coincided with lower expected inflation (blue), in line with softer commodities. This higher rate/ lower inflation combination has caused real rates (red) to surge. It has been an almighty move. When real rates ballooned in 2013, gold collapsed, so it’s not unreasonable that gold is down in dollar terms this year and remains under pressure.

General Jay’s assault


Source: Bloomberg

Despite the current consensus that the end of the financial world is nigh, and therefore gold must surge, there is a risk that the Fed follows through with the return to tight money, and gold falls to fair value.

There is an alternative explanation that the bond market is wrong. Regular readers also know my disdain for expected inflation derived from bond markets. I accept that expected inflation has cooled, with commodities etc., but not by this much.

Does inflation really collapse from 8.3% to 2.7% over the next two years? Probably not. In which case, my valuation model is understating fair value, and I will be delighted if that is true.

Imaginary Inflation expectations


Source: Bloomberg

You’d think the clever people buying Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) by the boatload would have thought about future inflation. Not according to a paper by J. Gagnon and M. Sarsenbayev at the Peterson Institute.

Hat tip to James Ferguson from the Macro Strategy Partnership for highlighting this important point. The paper adds academic gravitas to what we have been thinking; that bond markets are not good predictors of inflation.

The paper shows how a 10-year average of past inflation is the best predictor for US yields. It appears that bond markets agree with Winston Churchill’s dictum, “The further back I look, the further forward I can see”.

Ferguson published this chart showing the 10-year gilt yield with 10-year average RPI + 2%. Magically, this seems to forecast the 10-year gilt yield quite accurately much of the time. More striking is how out of whack it has been since 2010.

Source: Macro Strategy Partnership

My valuation model highlights a risk that if inflation comes back towards 2%, then gold is overvalued. But maybe those inflation expectations are driven by past experience rather than any sense of what may lie over the horizon. In which case, gold is well supported and may even be undervalued.

Inflation expectations cannot ignore reality forever. If CPI keeps printing high single digits, at some point, gold will explode to the upside.

REGIME – REITERATING BULL MARKET

At times like these, best to check in. Historically gold has been a buy when two or more of the following have held true:

Short-term real interest rates are below 1.8%. TRUE

The gold price, measured in a basket of currencies is rising, measured by a 35-month exponential moving average. TRUE

The gold price relative to the S&P 500, measured by a 35-month exponential. TRUE (finally)

Regular readers will know how frustrated I have become around point 3. It is important that gold is beating the stock market because that attracts inflows. In recent months, money has been leaving the gold market at speed, reversing all the inflows seen in 2022.

Investors still dumping gold


Source: ByteTree Terminal. Gold held by funds since 2018.

As I said, when gold is beating the stockmarket, there is no need to sell. And when it leads the market, investors had better hurry up and buy.

The gold price is beating the S&P 500 as defined by the slope of the 35-month moving average turning positive. High time!

I came up with this idea over a decade ago, and this simple test reduced noise in what can be a volatile relationship. In early 2013, it was instrumental in downgrading gold from bull to bear market.

Gold leading equities in 2022


Source: Bloomberg

With gold down 6% this year and the S&P 500 down 20%, you’d think asset allocators would come flocking to gold, yet instead, they keep on buying treasuries. Where do they find these people?

LET’S NOT FORGET CHINA

Here is another of my old favourites that just made it into the Atlas Pulse Bumper 10-year special. That’s thanks to a chance call this morning with James Bennett, my former colleague who is on the cusp of being a major player in the gold market. I’ll spill the beans when he’s ready. James mentioned Chinese demand, and he’s right.

The blue line measures the Shanghai premium (inverted), whereby gold trades at a higher price in China than in London. When that happens, the Chinese buy gold by the truckload. Currently, the 30-day moving average is at -1.6%, which means gold is cheaper in London than in China.

Chinese gold demand


Source: Bloomberg

The Shanghai premium has been a good short-term indicator, as shown in 2013, 2016 and 2018 to the upside. Similarly, the Shanghai discount in 2020 was an excellent sell signal. Right now, the message is supportive.

TEN YEARS OF ATLAS PULSE

Atlas Pulse first appeared on the Gold Made Simple website in 2012 before moving over to Glint a few years later. I thank Jason Cozens, Declan Cosgrove, and Tom Paterson for providing a platform in those early days.

Then in July 2021, Atlas Pulse moved over to ByteTree. Since we were planning to launch a bitcoin and gold ETF (BOLD) at the time, it made sense to cover gold. It demonstrated to people that knew us through bitcoin that we also knew a thing or two about the yellow metal.

Ten years of writing Atlas Pulse should make this issue number 120, but it is only number 76, which means, at times, I have been lazy. It’s true that in the quiet years between 2014 and 2018 when there was little to get excited about, Atlas Pulse made it to press quarterly or even less frequently. But so long as the dial has pointed towards bull market, Atlas Pulse has appeared each month.

As a multi-asset fund manager by trade, I wanted to know the times you need to own gold and those you don’t. I once carried out a study which concluded that investors should own gold around 40% of the time, avoid it 40% of the time, and sit on the fence the rest. The regime model does this effectively, with all the other things I mention, a bonus.

Time is money. An efficient portfolio owns assets that are likely to perform while avoiding those that don’t. By applying this principle, your money works harder, leading to higher returns. It’s ok to be a gold fan, yet periodically sell it to someone else for safe-keeping until you return. That is a key benefit of a deeply liquid market.

I never have, nor likely ever will, add value in short-term gold trading, but have consistently been on the right side of the long-term trend, with mixed results over the medium-term. Through luck or judgement, the track record over ten years has been excellent.

SUMMARY

The dollar is high enough, the gold regime is fully bullish, and Chinese demand is strong. Yet the valuation poses a risk assuming the Fed follow through with the tightening programme to the bitter end. They likely won’t because the financial system will spectacularly blow up if they do. Besides, if gold returns to fair value, it may prove temporary.

Furthermore, the evidence builds that the bond market isn’t a great forecaster and inflation expectations are simply wrong. The real conundrum is why investors are selling gold when it is obvious that, at times like these, a little gold in a portfolio is unlikely to be a bad thing.

Here’s to the next decade of Atlas Pulse.

 

Find out more at www.bytetree.com

Follow Charlie Morris on Twitter

Glint Special Report: Here’s your guide to FX Summer spending

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Special Report FX Summer

In the northern hemisphere temperatures are soaring (close to 40ᵒ in parts of Europe) so you’ll need to keep cool if you are sun-seeking. Glint helps you to keep your cool by giving you the freedom to use gold as money.

It also gives you the freedom to spend gold (or Dollars, Pounds or Euros) around the world at a very competitive rate: by our calculation, we’re up to 6 times cheaper than banks, and there are no hidden or disguised fees. You can use Glint to pay for products and services in shops, restaurants and online, anywhere in the world that takes Mastercard, at the best available rates (no mark-ups here) and with only a small 0.5% transaction fee. You no longer have to worry about the risk of losing significant sums of money from shifts in exchange rates. If you want to spend in local currency when travelling abroad, with Glint foreign exchange fees are just 0.5%, against high street bank charges in the UK of about 2% and foreign transaction fees in the US as high as 3%. Most UK credit cards add an extra 3% cost to the exchange rates banks themselves get. And if you need some extra cash when traveling abroad then you can withdraw up to £300 (or $300) per day from ATMs that accept Mastercard®, with only a small fee of £1.50 / $1.50 / €1.50 per withdrawal from Glint, which just covers our costs. Don’t forget these top tips:

• If you are asked if you would like to pay in your country’s currency or the currency of the country you are in, bag the latter – mostly it will be more cost-effective.

• You can turn your mobile phone into a sat-nav which you can use abroad by searching App stores for free maps before you go. For example the free Citymapper app helps navigate public transport in more than 100 cities around the world.

• Make sure your passport is valid – some countries demand it is valid for at least six months from arrival.

• Download before you go the Google Translate app, which will help you in more than 100 languages.

• Liquids are banned by airport security – but not food.

• Dress children in super bright colours so you can spot them more easily in a crowded airport.

• Save energy when you go away – make sure you switch off all those gadgets.

• Don’t forget your Glint card so that you can save (on bank fees) while you spend, as well as being able to choose to pay in gold for only 0.5% when travelling abroad or for free in your own country.

So, if you’re travelling don’t get hot and bothered with hidden charges – cool down with Glint!

Glint Special Report: US interest rates rise for first time since 2018

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Special Report US Interest Rates

• The US central bank confirmed market expectations by raising the main interest rate by 0.25%.
• US Federal Reserve funds rate is now 0.25%-0.50%.
• This might be the first of at least four further rate rises this year, and more in 2023.
• Borrowing costs for everything from credit cards to mortgages are headed higher.

 

In the past 12 months, the annual inflation rate in the US has moved from an official 2.62% to 7.9% – a 40-year high. Jerome Powell, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, and Janet Yellen, US Treasury Secretary, have shifted their narrative about inflation. A year ago they called it ‘transitory’. Yellen warned last week that Americans will probably see another year of what she called “uncomfortably high inflation”.

Putting up interest rates is a central bank’s main tool when it comes to trying to prevent inflation from spiraling beyond control. But this inflation is largely imported and probably beyond the control of anything the US Fed can do. The fall-out from the war in Ukraine has pushed energy and grains prices to record levels; China’s zero-Covid policy continues to disrupt supply chains. The risk is that making borrowing more expensive could throw the US economic recovery off-course, while failing to cool red-hot prices. According to a note to clients from Bank of America, for the US “economic growth and profit expectations are recessionary”. Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has Tweeted that the “entire global economy will feel the economic ‘ripple effects’ of the war in Ukraine, with slower growth and faster inflation”.

It’s commonly held that rising US interest rates are bearish for gold, but in fact there is little correlation between interest rates and the gold price; the 1980s saw declining interest rates and a bear market in gold, while in much of the 1970s gold prices rose, in tandem with rising interest rates. According to the World Gold Council, there is usually a negative correlation between gold and interest rates. Higher interest rates are thought to push gold lower because of increased competition from higher-yielding investments.

Gold has traditionally been regarded as a safe haven asset at times of intense uncertainty and anxiety, such as now. The Dollar price hit $2,070 after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine; Goldman Sachs has raised its price forecast for gold to $2,500 over the next six months, $450 higher than previously. Glint, the global gold-based payments platform makes gold easier: simpler to access, simpler to share and for the first time ever, a viable option to spend.

While we strongly believe that gold is the fairest and most reliable currency on the planet, we must point out that it isn’t 100% risk free. We have seen a steady increase over time but the value of gold can fall, which means the purchasing power of the customer can also fall.

Jason Cozens, Founder & CEO of Glint, says: “The markets have long been expecting this interest rate rise by the US Federal Reserve. This rate rise is probably just the first in a sequence that will push the US base rate to 2%, which historically is still a very low level. The Fed is in a very uncomfortable place. If it tightens credit and the money supply the US might face a severe recession; if it doesn’t, it may be criticized for failing to address inflation – even though the causes of this inflation lay beyond its shores”.

“We are living through deeply troubling and uncertain times. The Dollar’s status as the international reserve currency has been further chipped away by the news that Saudi Arabia may price some of the oil it sells to China in Yuan”.

“Gold will become increasingly important as an alternative to fiat currencies; the turbulence of today merely reinforces that. Glint has a vision of a global, gold-based alternative to banking, payments and money. We have the capacity and opportunity to build a significantly scalable financial eco-system, connected to, but outside of the existing banking and cryptocurrency systems”.

 

ENDS

 

Press information

About Glint
At a time of extraordinary monetary policy and when trust in currencies, banks and existing payment systems has been eroded, Glint helps us move to a more stable global economy. Glint is bringing reliability, independence, choice, and control to clients, by reintroducing the most universally trusted form of money, Gold.

Glint Pay Ltd. (glintpay.com) is a fintech company, based in London, Boulder (US) and Tokyo, that uses gold as an alternative global currency to enable its clients instantly to buy, sell, save, spend, and send their physical gold and other currencies, through the Glint Mastercard® and Glint App.

Glint offers no credit facilities, it allows users to transfer, receive and save real gold, which is secured in Brink’s vaults in Switzerland.

Glint is able to issue cards to clients around the world and can open accounts in over 200 countries. With more than 90,000 registered users, Glint has completed over $300million worth of transactions to date.

Glint is authorised and regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority which has given permission for Glint to issue electronic money (e-money) and provide payment services (FRN 900657).

Gold is not regulated by the FCA. However, Glint’s clients know their gold is secured in a Brinks Vault in Switzerland, insured by Brinks with Lloyds of London and their policy covers the replacement value of Glint client’s Gold as held in their vault.

The Glint card is issued in the UK by Glint Pay Services Ltd pursuant to licence by Mastercard International Inc.

Glint is a U.S.-based authorized Card Program Manager. Funds are held at Sutton Bank, Member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), in an FDIC-insured account.

Glint Pay Inc. employs effective Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT), and fraud prevention systems and controls to mitigate and combat risks.

Whilst we strongly believe that gold is the fairest and most reliable currency on the planet, we obviously need to point out that it isn’t 100% risk free. Whilst we have seen a steady increase over time, the value of gold can fall, which means the purchasing power of the customer can also fall.

 

Press Release: Glint strikes gold, welcoming Sibanye-Stillwater as major shareholder

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Press Release Sibanye Investment

Glint – The global gold-based payments platform, with offices in the USA, UK and Japan, this week received an equity investment from one of the world’s largest producers of precious metals. This partnership seeks to connect sustainable sources of gold to easy, everyday money.

• Gold-based FinTech receives substantial investment from leading precious metals producer to support accelerated growth.

• JSE and NYSE listed Sibanye-Stillwater is a significant global producer of precious metals with a focus on sustainability. 

• This partnership of a disruptive FinTech and a leading precious metals producer, leads the way in gold-based alternative currencies.

Glint’s unique fusion of cutting-edge technology and real, allocated gold, instantly enables its client’s full access to the most reliable form of money. Glint makes gold easier: simpler to access, simpler to share and for the first time ever, a viable option to spend.

Sibanye-Stillwater (https://www.sibanyestillwater.com)

Sibanye-Stillwater is a multinational mining and metals processing Group with a diverse portfolio of mining and processing operations, projects and investments across five continents. The Group is also one of the foremost global PGM auto catalytic recyclers and has interests in leading mine tailings retreatment operations.

Jason Cozens, Founder & CEO of Glint, www.glintpay.com , says: “I’m delighted to be able announce this significant investment from Sibanye-Stillwater that will enable Glint to considerably accelerate our planned growth and strategic development”.

“What we’re building here at Glint is special. We are experiencing rapid but sustained growth to deliver our vision of a global, gold-based alternative to banking, payments and money, and we have both the capability and opportunity to build a significantly scalable financial eco-system, connected to, but outside of the existing banking and cryptocurrency systems”.

Neal Froneman, CEO of Sibanye-Stillwater commented “This partnership with Glint provides Sibanye-Stillwater with the ability to support new end markets for gold on an innovative, digital and highly regulated platform, backed by physical gold under the supervision of a world-class regulator in Switzerland”.

ENDS

 

Press information

About Glint
At a time of extraordinary monetary policy and when trust in currencies, banks and existing payment systems has been eroded, Glint helps us move to a more stable global economy. Glint is bringing reliability, independence, choice, and control to clients, by reintroducing the most universally trusted form of money, Gold.

Glint Pay Ltd. (glintpay.com) is a fintech company, based in London, Boulder (US) and Tokyo, that uses gold as an alternative global currency to enable its clients instantly to buy, sell, save, spend, and send their physical gold and other currencies, through the Glint Mastercard® and Glint App.

Glint offers no credit facilities, it allows users to transfer, receive and save real gold, which is secured in Brink’s vaults in Switzerland.

Glint is able to issue cards to clients around the world and can open accounts in over 200 countries. With more than 90,000 registered users, Glint has completed over $300million worth of transactions to date.

Glint is authorised and regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority which has given permission for Glint to issue electronic money (e-money) and provide payment services (FRN 900657).

Gold is not regulated by the FCA. However, Glint’s clients know their gold is secured in a Brinks Vault in Switzerland, insured by Brinks with Lloyds of London and their policy covers the replacement value of Glint client’s Gold as held in their vault.

The Glint card is issued in the UK by Glint Pay Services Ltd pursuant to licence by Mastercard International Inc.

Glint is a U.S.-based authorized Card Program Manager. Funds are held at Sutton Bank, Member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), in an FDIC-insured account.

Glint Pay Inc. employs effective Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT), and fraud prevention systems and controls to mitigate and combat risks.

Whilst we strongly believe that gold is the fairest and most reliable currency on the planet, we obviously need to point out that it isn’t 100% risk free. Whilst we have seen a steady increase over time, the value of gold can fall, which means the purchasing power of the customer can also fall.

Press Release: Inflation at multi-decades high drives greater gold buying with Glint

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Press Release Gold Balance

• Consumer inflation has everywhere been on the rise for the past 12 months.

• In the US and the UK it’s now at its highest since 1982.

• Glint clients have responded to the debasement of their fiat currencies by inflation by increasing their gold holdings by almost 30% since March 2021.

Glint, the global gold-based payments platform, with offices in the USA, UK and Japan, reports that it has observed a distinct correlation in the past 12 months between the rise in inflation in the US and UK and an increase in the amount of gold bought by its clients.

In March 2021, the annual inflation rate in the US was an official 2.62%, and in the UK 0.74%. The average amount of gold held in Glint accounts by clients in both countries was, in that month, more than 47 grams. Since that date the annual inflation rate in the US has risen to 7.5% and in the UK to 5.4%. In both countries the average amount of gold in client accounts has risen to more than 61 grams.

Glint makes gold easier: simpler to access, simpler to share and for the first time ever, a viable option to spend.

Jason Cozens, Founder & CEO of Glint, www.glintpay.com , says: “There can be no better proof of humanity’s confidence in one of gold’s most important characteristics – a defense against the poison of inflation – than that our clients have increased their gold holdings as inflation has taken a hold. We are living through deeply troubling, deeply uncertain times. Gold will become increasingly important as an alternative to fiat currencies; the turbulence of today merely reinforces that.

“What we’re building here at Glint is special. We are experiencing rapid but sustained growth to deliver our vision of a global, gold-based alternative to banking, payments and money, and we have both the capability and opportunity to build a significantly scalable financial eco-system, connected to, but outside of the existing banking and cryptocurrency systems”.

 

ENDS

 

Press information

About Glint
At a time of extraordinary monetary policy and when trust in currencies, banks and existing payment systems has been eroded, Glint helps us move to a more stable global economy. Glint is bringing reliability, independence, choice, and control to clients, by reintroducing the most universally trusted form of money, Gold.

Glint Pay Ltd. (glintpay.com) is a fintech company, based in London, Boulder (US) and Tokyo, that uses gold as an alternative global currency to enable its clients instantly to buy, sell, save, spend, and send their physical gold and other currencies, through the Glint Mastercard® and Glint App.

Glint offers no credit facilities, it allows users to transfer, receive and save real gold, which is secured in Brink’s vaults in Switzerland.

Glint is able to issue cards to clients around the world and can open accounts in over 200 countries. With more than 90,000 registered users, Glint has completed over $300million worth of transactions to date.

Glint is authorised and regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority which has given permission for Glint to issue electronic money (e-money) and provide payment services (FRN 900657).

Gold is not regulated by the FCA. However, Glint’s clients know their gold is secured in a Brinks Vault in Switzerland, insured by Brinks with Lloyds of London and their policy covers the replacement value of Glint client’s Gold as held in their vault.

The Glint card is issued in the UK by Glint Pay Services Ltd pursuant to licence by Mastercard International Inc.

Glint is a U.S.-based authorized Card Program Manager. Funds are held at Sutton Bank, Member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), in an FDIC-insured account.

Glint Pay Inc. employs effective Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT), and fraud prevention systems and controls to mitigate and combat risks.

Whilst we strongly believe that gold is the fairest and most reliable currency on the planet, we obviously need to point out that it isn’t 100% risk free. Whilst we have seen a steady increase over time, the value of gold can fall, which means the purchasing power of the customer can also fall.

Glint Special Report: Sound money and social stability

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We see Glint as the key to unlocking the security of gold as sound money, money that can be used by everyone in their daily life. While gold goes up and down in price, over time it has proved a reliable store of value.

Thus, we are always on the look-out for cogent, intelligent and persuasive articles which give a provocative analysis of the current practices of central banks, those bodies which have the most profound influence over our fiat money system.

For that reason, we are delighted to publish here today an essay by Geoff Blanning. In his ‘Put the tools away now, please’ Geoff, who worked in the City for 32 years as an investment manager, savages the quantitative easing policy pursued by the Bank of England (and other central banks) and warns that the creation of vast amounts of new money “represents a debasement of every existing pound in your pocket and mine”. Geoff lays out how higher inflation inevitably follows the extraordinary amount of new money which has been injected into the global system.

Read Geoff Blanning’s ‘Put the tools away now, please’  White Paper here:
https://glintpay.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Geoffrey-Blanning-Put-the-tools-away-now-please.pdf

Listen to the podcast here on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3QQoOfUpMqozX1Am2VoLRo

Watch our YouTube film here: https://youtu.be/qcUg1OSu8xk

Ask Glint Anything: Update on your Crowd Funding Investment

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Crowd Funding Ask Glint Anything

A number of you have asked about our recent Crowd Funding campaign, here’s a typical example: “I recently invested some money via Seedrs on the back of the GLINT crowdfunding campaign and am still waiting for final confirmation of the purchase – my balance is still showing in Seedrs. Could you please give me an update on my investment?”

Who better to answer that than our Financial Director, Sen Ramachandran? Sen says: “Glint’s crowdfunding campaign was the first in the world to involve synchronised US and UK platforms. The closing process has therefore involved reconciliations across more than one party, a new shareholder agreement, plus input from the Future Fund, who invested in Glint via a convertible loan last year. This complex reconciliation has taken longer than expected but I am pleased to tell you that we are nearly there and expect it to complete in the next couple of weeks. Thanks for showing your confidence in our mission to democratise money by making gold a real alternative currency, to be used in everyday purchases. We can’t wait to welcome you into our shareholder community!”

Take this chance to find out more about what’s happening at Glint. Put any question you have to our leadership team and they will respond. Each month we’ll publish a question and our response, of course.

Do keep sending me your questions, to [email protected]

Ask Glint Anything: Query from one of our readers on Capital Gains Tax

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“Say, I buy £1000 worth of gold and hold it on my Glint card, the price goes up so the value on my card is now £1500. I buy items using the card, but gold still rises, how does one deal with capital gains tax on the annual tax return? How do you calculate it? Does the reverse apply if gold drops, can I declare this as a loss against future gains?”

Reply from Sen Ramachandran, Finance Director

Good question, first of all, I should point out that Glint does not offer advice on tax matters and so this specific question: “how does one deal with CGT on the annual tax return” would be a question for your tax advisor.

However, to help explain what happens with Capital Gains(CGT), Capital Gains Tax is a tax on the profit when you sell (or ‘dispose of’) something (an ‘asset’) that’s increased in value. It’s the gain you make that’s taxed, not the amount of money you receive.

Example: You bought gold for £1,000 and sold the gold to fiat (local currency) / or made a purchase using Gold for £1,500. This means you made a gain of £500 (£1,500 minus £1,000). It is the gain which would be taxable for the purposes of the CGT calculation. A capital loss occurs when a purchase is made (gold sold) with a decrease in asset value.

We would also refer our UK-based clients to HMRC’s website which provides further details on Capital Gains Tax.
https://www.gov.uk/capital-gains-tax

What’s Your Gold Story: Ian Cockerill

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Ian Cockerill is a British-born geologist, mining engineer and former president and CEO of Gold Fields Ltd, as well as holding senior executive roles with Anglo American plc. He is currently non-executive chairman of Polymetal, the FTSE 100 listed Russian gold producer and a non-executive director of BHP Ltd.

“I guess my real introduction to gold started back in the 1970s when I was studying geology at the University of London. Having the star sign of Leo, it’s hardly surprising I was intrigued by the yellow metal, but it was during the 70s, when Nixon made the fateful announcement of decoupling the dollar from Gold. In all honesty, at the time, I had no clue this was such a momentous call but reading the papers then maybe I had a subconscious inkling it was going to become really big news.

My fascination with gold led to a lifetime career in the mining business, covering a variety of minerals and metals, but predominantly focused on gold. I’m no ‘Flat earth, Montana revivalist’ when it comes to gold but I appreciate its enduring characteristics, its physical beauty, and its historic value as a store of wealth. Whilst it faces increasing competition from the likes of cryptocurrencies, there’s no doubt gold should form an important part of anyone’s long-term investment portfolio and with the help of Glint, it’s going to transform a once “barbarous relic” into an important component of the day-to-day monetary system”.

From The Engine Room: Emmanuel Ide

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We are delighted to welcome to Glint our new Head of Engineering, Emmanuel Ide. Emmanuel will be responsible for growing our world-class product team and continuing to enhance the user experience as well as deliver new features for our clients. This hire is integral to Glint fulfilling its growth plans and expanding market share.

Emmanuel has 15 years leadership experience in technology and product, working for B2C and B2B start-ups and scale-ups. He was most recently, Chief Technology Officer at Curio, a media platform for high-quality audio journalism. As CTO, Emmanuel was responsible for founding and growing both the product teams and data teams to support the rapid growth of the company. During his tenure as CTO, Curio successfully closed a $9m Series A funding round in September 2020.

Prior to Curio, Emmanuel demonstrated a strong record of building and managing high performing teams and successful product, holding roles as Head of Technology at online accountancy firm Crunch, CTO at art therapy non-profit Chroma, Head of Development at a business logistics specialist Quru, as well as software development roles at Motorola and Shop.com.

Emmanuel says: “Glint’s ambition to democratise gold and to give everyone an equal opportunity to prosper is inspirational. I’m proud to be joining such a talented leadership team with a deep knowledge of the industry and have a great opportunity to shape Glint’s future and establish it as a premier payments platform. I have the exciting role of building on and leading a dedicated team that are already working tirelessly to ensure that Glint’s platform provides our clients with the best possible user experience to allow them to take advantage of the alternative currency revolution”.

In welcoming Emmanuel, Glint’s CEO Jason Cozens, said: “Emmanuel brings fantastic expertise to Glint and we’re delighted to welcome him to the team. As a FinTech, we know the user experience of our platform is integral to our success and this is something that he will be overhauling over the next few months. It is something that our clients expect, and Emmanuel is the perfect hire to meet this challenge and lead the creation of a truly world-class mobile app and platform”.