DIGITAL GOLD: MAKING GOLD MORE VALUABLE AND MORE RELIABLE

8 min readAug 17, 2020

INTRODUCTION

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from Latin: aurum) and atomic number 79, making it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. In a pure form, it is a bright, slightly reddish yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal and a group 11 element. It is one of the least reactive chemical elements and is solid under standard conditions. Gold often occurs in free elemental (native) form, as nuggets or grains, in rocks, in veins, and in alluvial deposits. It occurs in a solid solution series with the native element silver (as electrum) and also naturally alloyed with copper and palladium. Less commonly, it occurs in minerals as gold compounds, often with tellurium (gold tellurides).

Gold is resistant to most acids, though it does dissolve in aqua regia (a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid), which forms a soluble tetrachloroaurate anion. Gold is insoluble in nitric acid, which dissolves silver and base metals, a property that has long been used to refine gold and to confirm the presence of gold in metallic objects, giving rise to the term acid test. Gold also dissolves in alkaline solutions of cyanide, which are used in mining and electroplating. Gold dissolves in mercury, forming amalgam alloys, but this is not a chemical reaction.

A relatively rare element, gold is a precious metal that has been used for coinage, jewelry, and other arts throughout recorded history. In the past, a gold standard was often implemented as a monetary policy, but gold coins ceased to be minted as a circulating currency in the 1930s, and the world gold standard was abandoned for a fiat currency system after 1971.

A total of 190,040 tonnes of gold exists above ground, as of 2017.[8] This is equal to a cube with each side measuring roughly 21.3 metres. The world consumption of new gold produced is about 50% in jewelry, 40% in investments, and 10% in industry. Gold’s high malleability, ductility, resistance to corrosion and most other chemical reactions, and conductivity of electricity have led to its continued use in corrosion resistant electrical connectors in all types of computerized devices (its chief industrial use). Gold is also used in infrared shielding, colored-glass production, gold leafing, and tooth restoration. Certain gold salts are still used as anti-inflammatories in medicine. As of 2017, the world’s largest gold producer by far was China with 440 tonnes per year

Characteristics

Whereas most metals are gray or silvery white, gold is slightly reddish-yellow. This color is determined by the frequency of plasma oscillations among the metal’s valence electrons, in the ultraviolet range for most metals but in the visible range for gold due to relativistic effects affecting the orbitals around gold atoms.Similar effects impart a golden hue to metallic caesium.

Common colored gold alloys include the distinctive eighteen-karat rose gold created by the addition of copper. Alloys containing palladium or nickel are also important in commercial jewelry as these produce white gold alloys. Fourteen-karat gold-copper alloy is nearly identical in color to certain bronze alloys, and both may be used to produce police and other badges. Fourteen- and eighteen-karat gold alloys with silver alone appear greenish-yellow and are referred to as green gold. Blue gold can be made by alloying with iron, and purple gold can be made by alloying with aluminium. Less commonly, addition of manganese, indium, and other elements can produce more unusual colors of gold for various applications.

Colloidal gold, used by electron-microscopists, is red if the particles are small; larger particles of colloidal gold are blue.

Isotopes

Main article: Isotopes of gold

Gold has only one stable isotope, 197
Au, which is also its only naturally occurring isotope, so gold is both a mononuclidic and monoisotopic element. Thirty-six radioisotopes have been synthesized, ranging in atomic mass from 169 to 205. The most stable of these is 195
Au with a half-life of 186.1 days. The least stable is 171
Au, which decays by proton emission with a half-life of 30 µs. Most of gold’s radioisotopes with atomic masses below 197 decay by some combination of proton emission, α decay, and β+ decay. The exceptions are 195
Au, which decays by electron capture, and 196
Au, which decays most often by electron capture (93%) with a minor β− decay path (7%).[27] All of gold’s radioisotopes with atomic masses above 197 decay by β− decay.[28]

At least 32 nuclear isomers have also been characterized, ranging in atomic mass from 170 to 200. Within that range, only 178
Au, 180
Au, 181
Au, 182
Au, and 188
Au do not have isomers. Gold’s most stable isomer is 198m2
Au with a half-life of 2.27 days. Gold’s least stable isomer is 177m2
Au with a half-life of only 7 ns. 184m1
Au has three decay paths: β+ decay, isomeric transition, and alpha decay. No other isomer or isotope of gold has three decay paths.

Synthesis

The production of gold from a more common element, such as lead, has long been a subject of human inquiry, and the ancient and medieval discipline of alchemy often focused on it; however, the transmutation of the chemical elements did not become possible until the understanding of nuclear physics in the 20th century. The first synthesis of gold was conducted by Japanese physicist Hantaro Nagaoka, who synthesized gold from mercury in 1924 by neutron bombardment. An American team, working without knowledge of Nagaoka’s prior study, conducted the same experiment in 1941, achieving the same result and showing that the isotopes of gold produced by it were all radioactive.

Gold can currently be manufactured in a nuclear reactor by irradiation either of platinum or mercury.

Only the mercury isotope 196Hg, which occurs with a frequency of 0.15% in natural mercury, can be converted to gold by neutron capture, and following electron capture-decay into 197Au with slow neutrons. Other mercury isotopes are converted when irradiated with slow neutrons into one another, or formed mercury isotopes which beta decay into thallium.

Using fast neutrons, the mercury isotope 198Hg, which composes 9.97% of natural mercury, can be converted by splitting off a neutron and becoming 197Hg, which then disintegrates to stable gold. This reaction, however, possesses a smaller activation cross-section and is feasible only with un-moderated reactors.

It is also possible to eject several neutrons with very high energy into the other mercury isotopes in order to form 197Hg. However, such high-energy neutrons can be produced only by particle accelerators

Gold is not used just to make jewellery and ornaments. it is also considered a popular form of investment in India. Many Indians think investing in gold is an excellent investment and provides protection in a financial emergency.

However, the main reasons investors may choose not to invest in gold are that, typically, gold pays no yield, there are trading and storing costs involved, and that short-term it is quite volatile. Whilst these are all reasonable concerns, they shouldn’t stop people owning some gold as part of their portfolio.

Whilst gold doesn’t tend to have a yield (in theory it can be lent though in practice this is difficult to do), its long-term capital gains more than offset the lack of income, with gold prices rising by circa 9% per annum over the last 45 plus years. Given the preferential tax treatment of tax gains made on capital vs. income for long-term investors, there is actually an advantage to having your gains made exclusively on the capital side.

The trading and storage cost for gold are also not exorbitant, and are essentially in line with some of the fees charged on other investments like managed funds.

Finally, whilst yes, gold is volatile in the short term (like shares), a gold investment made for the long-run tends to bear fruit, as per our earlier comment regarding the 9% long-run return. That kind of return almost matches the share market, and outperforms other traditional defensive assets like bonds and cash.

The disadvantages of investing in gold

1. Gold is not a passive investment

Gold is not a passive investment like stocks and bonds. Passive investments earn regular income in the form of interest and dividends. But, the only income you can get from gold is when it is sold in the open market.

2. Gold is difficult to store

If you love holding physical gold, then storage is the biggest issue. Gold has to be stored and guarded carefully, as it is of high value. If you place your gold coins and jewellery in a bank locker, you must pay locker maintenance charges each year.

3. Price correction can lead to losses

Sometimes the value of gold rises say when stock markets crash and investors rush to invest in gold at high prices. Once the panic dies down, the price of gold corrects itself. This might lead to losses for the investors. Be Wise, Get Rich.

DIGITAL GOLD

We have a solution to the problem mentioned above and the solution is embedded in this great innovation called Digital gold, an upheld cryptographic currency of the ERC20 type dependent on Ethereum, with this digital currency we can control all the advantages and wipe out the burdens of the two products since Gold Digital has a stage on the that you can purchase in a flash, every Digital gold is equal to one gram of 99.99% fine gold which comprises of a limited number securely monitored by the vault of the organization.

Digital gold permits its clients to exchange the same number of times as they need the sum they need without uncovering personalities to determine their security, on account of the ethereum ERC20 support there is no compelling reason to stress over unpredictable expenses since their exchanges are free and anyplace on the planet.

Security and solidness are ensured by this stablecoin, and on the off chance that you need to utilize a different wallet, you can utilize: MyEtherWallet, MetaMask, Guarda, Trezor, and Ledger Nano S. You can likewise see the digital currency on CoinMarketcap and check its high liquidity. Gold Digital is the best option for any financial specialist, particularly notwithstanding this essential pandemic that has hit the world, with Gold Digital it has a protect when everything focuses on the drawback.