A new gold-linked product being distributed through Indonesia’s postal service raises interesting ideas about financial inclusion, parallel monetary systems, blockchain and Islamic finance.
On April 16, a company called Kinesis soft-launched a physical gold-based digital Shariah-compliant product called PosGo Syariah. It is government-backed and run through the 24,000-location network of PT Pos, the state postal service.
Customers use an app to access PosGold, which gives them digital ownership of gold underpinned by physical metal in a Jakarta vault, together with the opportunity to transfer money between gold and fiat balances.
The platform also offers a payment gateway, E-Wallet service and a gold-based community savings programme for Hajj and Umrah pilgrimage trips.
Kinesis’s founder is Thomas Coughlin, a veteran of the investment, funds management and bullion industries, and who has long been a believer in the potential to transform global monetary systems through the digital integration of physical gold and silver into the economy.
In this project, Kinesis is working with electronic institutional precious metals exchange Allocated Bullion Exchange – Coughlin is chief executive of both – as well as PT Bullion Ecosystem International, an Indonesian e-commerce and financial technology company.
The Indonesian government has backed this project because of the potential for financial inclusion and the promotion of Islamic finance.