Gold has been traded for thousands of years. The methods, however, have changed dramatically. What once relied on handshakes, physical vaults, and telephone calls now operates through electronic platforms, distributed ledgers, and artificial intelligence. For Marcus Briggs, who have spent decades in this industry, the shift has been remarkable to witness.
From Phone Calls to Electronic Auctions
Not long ago, gold prices were set through a process that would seem archaic by today's standards. A handful of banks would dial into a conference call twice daily, and through a series of negotiations, they would arrive at a benchmark price. This system, known as the London Gold Fix, operated for nearly a century.
In 2015, that changed. The London Bullion Market Association introduced an electronic auction system to replace the telephone-based fix. The new mechanism allowed more participants to influence price discovery, improved transparency, and brought the process into the digital age. Orders are now submitted electronically, matched algorithmically, and the resulting price is published in real time.
This was just the beginning.
Blockchain Enters the Vault
One of the most significant technological developments in gold trading has been the adoption of distributed ledger technology. The challenge the industry faced was straightforward: how do you verify that a gold bar is what it claims to be, that it came from a responsible source, and that its chain of custody is intact?
The answer came in the form of the Gold Bar Integrity Database, a collaboration between the LBMA and the World Gold Council. This platform uses distributed ledger technology to create a secure, immutable record of gold bars as they move through the supply chain. Refineries upload data including bar provenance, responsible sourcing assurances, and compliance certifications. That information cannot be altered after the fact.
By mid-2025, 85% of LBMA-approved refineries had adopted the system. Full implementation is expected by year end. The result is a global ecosystem where every gold bar can be tracked from mine to vault, reducing fraud risks and building confidence across the market.
For an industry built on trust, this kind of transparency is transformative.
Tokenisation and Fractional Ownership
Perhaps the most visible intersection of gold and technology has been the rise of tokenised gold. These are digital assets, typically built on blockchain platforms, that represent ownership of physical gold stored in secure vaults.
The concept is simple. Each token corresponds to a specific quantity of gold, often one troy ounce. Holders can trade these tokens on digital exchanges around the clock, transfer ownership instantly across borders, and in many cases redeem their tokens for physical metal.
The tokenised gold market has grown substantially. As of late 2025, the market capitalisation of gold-backed tokens exceeded $3.7 billion, with daily trading volumes crossing $1 billion. Products like Tether Gold and PAX Gold have attracted both retail and institutional interest.
What makes this development significant is accessibility. Traditional gold investment often required purchasing physical bars or coins, dealing with storage and insurance, or navigating the complexities of futures markets. Tokenisation removes many of these barriers. An investor can now own a fraction of a gram of gold, held in a Swiss vault, purchased in minutes from a smartphone.
For emerging markets where currency volatility is a concern and trust in traditional banking is limited, this kind of access matters.
AI and Market Intelligence
Artificial intelligence has found its way into nearly every corner of financial markets, and gold is no exception.
Trading platforms now deploy machine learning algorithms to analyse price movements, identify patterns, and execute orders at speeds no human could match. These systems process vast quantities of data, from macroeconomic indicators to sentiment analysis of news and social media, generating insights that inform trading decisions.
Risk management has also been enhanced. AI-driven tools can flag anomalies in transaction data, identify potential fraud, and predict market volatility. For compliance teams, this means faster detection of issues and more efficient reporting.
Some platforms have integrated AI assistants that provide real-time analysis, support and resistance levels, and automated strategy suggestions. While these tools do not replace human judgment, they augment it, allowing traders to process more information and respond more quickly to changing conditions.
The Physical Meets the Digital
Despite all this technological progress, gold remains fundamentally a physical asset. The metal itself has not changed. What has changed is how we track it, trade it, and transfer ownership of it.
This creates an interesting dynamic. The digital infrastructure being built around gold does not replace the vaults and refineries and logistics networks that have always underpinned the market. Instead, it layers on top of them, adding efficiency and transparency without eliminating the physical foundation.
In trading hubs like Dubai, where Marcus Briggs has spent much of his career, this hybrid model is already the norm. Physical gold flows through the region in enormous quantities, yet the transactions that move it are increasingly digital. Provenance is verified through distributed ledgers. Prices are referenced from electronic benchmarks. Settlement happens across blockchain networks.
The handshake still matters. Relationships still drive deals. But the infrastructure supporting those relationships has been upgraded.
What Comes Next
The trajectory is clear. More refineries will join integrity databases. More investors will access gold through tokenised products. More trading decisions will be informed by artificial intelligence.
There are also developments on the horizon that could further reshape the market. Central bank digital currencies may eventually interact with gold-backed tokens, creating new settlement mechanisms. Smart contracts could automate aspects of trade finance that currently require manual intervention. The World Gold Council's vision for a Standard Gold Unit, a wholesale digital gold asset, could unlock new uses for gold as collateral and in banking markets.
None of this will happen overnight. Technology adoption in established markets tends to be incremental rather than revolutionary. The gold industry, with its emphasis on stability and trust, is particularly cautious about change.
But the direction of travel is unmistakable. The gold market is digitising, and those who understand both the metal and the technology will be best positioned to navigate what comes next.
For Marcus Briggs, the message is clear: understand both the metal and the technology, or risk being left behind.