Just to gather on this. Thanks OP.
We reached a good a milestone so far, so I thought to get back to the main RMG subject.
This was necessary at least for me, because if I'm going to hand reg an RMG related domain, I better educate myself along the way about what RMG is in the first place. Thanks to all fellow domainers who shared their inputs and showed me the right path to tread. However be informed that this summary is not by any means complete or claims to be new info. Anyway, you may stick to the notice below :
The opinions expressed on this comment by this user is "their" own, not those of NamePros. Always question the user's mental sanity before taking anything "they" say for granted! Good luck!
Ok let's dive in..
The Domainer Mini Guide To Understanding
The Royal Mint Gold [RMG]
Vol. 1
Understanding The RMG
So to wrap things up, this all started by the breaking news coming from the Royal Mint. The Royal Mint is a government owned company located in the UK. It's the world's leading export mint, with over 1100 years of experience in bullion trading.
Partnering with the American-based futures exchange CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, the Royal Mint announced a new product called RMG to be traded on a blockchain backed platform that facilitates buying, holding, and selling of gold. The new digital gold product will be open to trading by the mid-2017.
It wasn't clear at first what the true nature of this RMG product is. So after a little investigation we settled to concentrate on the second term associated with it for better understanding.
Enter The Blockchain
We ended up discovering that blockchain is actually a powerful transaction system technology that will probably change the world of transactions in multiple forms of applications. Blockchain technology was the driving technology behind the famous digital currency bitcoin.
Then we proceeded to find out that blockchain technology can be used in endless sorts of applications.
Three main types of blockchains exist
- Public blockchains: open source softwares where everyone can be part of them. Anyone in the world can explore the blockchain, send transactions or contracts, consult them and participate in the consensus process to add new blocks of records. This type includes bitcoin, etherium, etc., as applications.
- Private blockchains: internal to a single company and restricted to certain entities.
- Consortium blockchains: controlled by a pre-selected set of multiple institutions, each operates a node that must sign every block in order for the block to be valid and recorded. The right to read the blockchain may be public, or restricted to the participants. ref
Broad Roles Of The Blockchain
- Primarily as a fascinating highly secure peer2peer transaction decentralized time stamped ledger system that allows all sort of digital or physical assets transactions to be tracked, encrypted, transmitted over the network, and stored in special data structures called the blocks. The blocks represent immutable linked records that can't be altered once a transaction is recorded successfully with the help of open replicated ledgers. No system admins can tamper with it, not even Satoshi Nakamoto! It's near to impossible to hack (that's at least the hype about it now). This basic form of blockchain represents a transactional system.
- Expanding on the first blockchain algorithm form, the blockchain has been first materialized into creating crypto currencies by leveraging its mining component (or proof of work PoW) to incorporate incentive rewards to the participants who confirm the validity of the ledger transactions in return of their consensus work. That was the first application and architecture behind the birth of the peer2peer payments system: the bitcoin. This form of the blockchain represents a true exchange system of values: virtual money.
- The blockchain can be further expanded in many other areas to include but not limited to providing secure voting system, intellectual property tracking, health care, insurance, payments processors, airports tickets, tracking ownership of assets like derivatives, shares, bonds, and everything that needs automated smart contracts or transactions.
Please refer to previous posts or search online for further information. You can start by reading Satoshi Nakamoto first proposal on bitcoin and Wei Dai pioneering proposal
So, now we understand that RMG is built to be traded on this blockchain technology. And we understand in general that a blockchain is sort of a sophisticated peer2peer transaction database based on a decentralized ledger. In other words it's bitcoin or blockchain. It depends on how you use it: to produce crypto currency, or to process transactions. Both are based on incentive rewards provided by the blockchain: be it bitcoin or a different passive earring from the cost savings that arise from using the blockchain. However it depends on the type of the blockchain in use. The more participants in the blockchain consensus process, the more trusted and secure the network as a whole.
Blockchain technology is a decentralized database that stores a registry of assets and transactions across a peer-to-peer network. It’s basically a public registry of who owns what and who transacts what. The transactions are secured through cryptography, and over time, that transaction history gets locked in blocks of data that are then cryptographically linked together and secured. This creates an immutable, unforgettable record of all of the transactions across this network. This record is replicated on every computer that uses the network.
Warburg
Other Digital Gold Products Examples
Then based on previous comments made by fellow domainers in this post, I searched for similar digitized gold products that may resemble Royal Mint RMG product. I needed any possible precedent already set in the wild. There where I met
Bitshares, and
Digix.
Bitshares [BTS] blockchain-backed Asset Exchange Platform
BTS can be converted to BTC and other Crypto Currencies
Digix blockchain-backed Asset Exchange Platform
DGX Gold Tokens can be converted to BTC and other Crypto Currencies
with passive income from transaction fees
So Finally What Exactly Is RMG?
Well according to Royal Mint's vague statements they're creating a digital gold product. An investment opportunity. At the same time they say it'll be different than any blockchain digital gold product ever made by other bullion companies out there!
What do you think now? Will be there anything new about it? RMG with wings?
The most likely answer is NO. They're actually talking about two main keywords here:
- The first keyword is new blockchain-backed trading software. The catch lies in the way their blockchain platform process trading of their new RMGs.
- The second keyword is investment. That could probably also means passive return as a side effect of doing transaction on their platform.
Developing a digital gold trading platform will help ensure that CME Group’s current product offerings meet the evolving needs of the global marketplace. As we continue to expand our global footprint and develop new products, this platform will help set standards for digital assets in financial markets.
Julie Winkler, Senior Director at CME Group
The new platform will be designed by the futures firm
CME Group and hopes to launch sometime in 2017. RMG will be based on a blockchain platform that records digital ownership of bullion stored in the Royal Mint’s secure storage vaults. The distributed ledger will provide a cryptographically secure landscape for buying, holding and trading spot gold.
Royal Mint
One RMG will represent one gram of physical gold.
Royal Mint
Go For Gold...Or Run Away From It?
Well now you should hopefully be a bit informed about blockchain, bitcoin, and maybe RMG as a domainer. It's up to you now to go ahead in your registrations ventures or walk away from it.
After all we are talking about Royal Mint and not small establishment. The other maybe struggling for obvious reasons. But Royal Mint could be a real potential with its resourceful capacity.
- Dunwall