Deep down in the digital gold mines

A New York real estate mogul has created a new digital currency backed by $6 billion in gold reserves, said Devon Pendleton in Bloomberg.com. The digital tokens, called DIGau, will have a value that fluctuates with the price of gold and is secured by rights to “mining claims in Nevada and Arizona.” The currency’s creator, Kent Swig, says that he spent 18 months scouring the world for enough gold assets; Swig wanted to have the mines located in the U.S. for “credibility and transparency.” In general, many digitalcurrency mavens disdain gold, and “the combination of gold and cryptocurrencies has a poor track record, with several attempts to combine variations of the two gaining little traction.” Swig, however, maintains the two make a natural pairing. “Gold was one of the original rock-solid backings of all currencies,” Swig said, “We’re not reinventing the wheel here.”