Toronto-based Argo Digital Gold has secured a strategic investment from a pair of cryptocurrency companies in Toronto’s WonderFi and New York-based Paxos to support its launch and international expansion.
Launched last summer by a trio of longtime gold investors—including father-and-daughter Eric and Larisa Sprott and Peter Grosskopf—and crypto entrepreneur Michael Petch, Argo aims to give a new generation of investors a way to own the precious metal and others like it.
Argo has developed a platform for users to digitally buy and sell physical gold, as well as other precious metals, and store them physically.
Eric Sprott is the billionaire gold and precious metals investor behind global asset manager Sprott Inc. Grosskopf is the former CEO of Sprott Inc. and an investment banker in the space as chair with SCP Resource Finance, while Larisa Sprott leads a precious metals sales and storage business called Sprott Money Inc.
Argo has developed a trading platform for users to digitally buy and sell physical gold, as well as other precious metals, and store them physically.
Petch, who is leading the FinTech startup as president, told BetaKit that the platform, which it plans to make available starting next month, will offer 24/7 gold and precious metals trading at low fees, facilitate fractional ownership, and safeguard its client’s assets in secure vaults.
“Gold investment has become non-physical and reliant on the institutions it’s seen to derive its value against,” Petch said. “Argo seeks to mobilize the asset class using FinTech and supporting tokenization.”
Since its founding, Petch said Argo has put together a “world-class team,” built out its platform, and secured partnerships and vaulting “with the likes of the Royal Canadian Mint.”
Petch declined to disclose how much has Argo secured from WonderFi and Paxos or share more details about the nature of this “strategic investment partnership.” He confirmed that the two crypto firms have taken an equity stake in Argo as part of this deal.
RELATED: WonderFi’s Bitbuy purchases clients of Bitstamp as fellow crypto exchange exits Canada
As to why Argo secured funding from two crypto companies, Petch said, “We are setting our sights on providing seamless crypto-to-gold trading, on and off-ramps, and to be on the leading edge of tokenization which will unlock powerful use cases for this $5-trillion industry.”
Argo CTO Daljit Bhartt previously served as CTO of Coinsquare, which is now owned by WonderFi, while Petch previously advised Coinsquare and also claims to have launched one of the first gold-backed stablecoins in Switzerland as well as the first Bitcoin/gold index. For its part, Paxos issues leading gold-backed stablecoin Pax Gold.
Petch said that the startup plans to use this funding to fuel its upcoming launch and international expansion plans.
Feature image courtesy Argo Digital Gold.
