It’s been over 80 years since the UK abandoned the gold standard. For a century before that, the system decreed that a pound of British currency would be worth a distinct weight and purity of gold. After 1931, however, gold was no longer used in circulating currency, and has since then been used for jewellery, gold bars and investment bullion, as well as commemorative gold coins.

Now a new app, called Glint Pay, wants to bring gold back? Can it work?

What is glint pay?

This new start-up app lets its users pay for real world goods using a ‘credit’ system, which is redeemable against a physical value of gold. In fact, it’s not too dissimilar to a number of initiatives that have sprung up in recent years allowing customers to pay with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrencies are however difficult to use as spending currency, because their value is too volatile. Glint Pay, offers a similar virtual currency option, where users can buy a physical quantity of gold inside the application, which is then redeemable in everyday spending against the value of the gold.

The gold itself is held in a bank account in Switzerland. It’s not the same as actually holding the gold yourself – but it’s undeniably secure.  And it’s security and stability that Glint Pay trades in, relying on gold’s reputation as a hedge against inflation to offer a reliable spending ‘currency’, with all the flexibility and opportunities of digital currencies like Bitcoin.

Is spending gold back?

Okay, chances are gold isn’t making a comeback as spending currency anytime soon. This initiative might yet be phenomenally successful, but even so, gold will continue to exist as an ‘alternative’; running parallel to national fiat currencies, rather than alongside them.

This is good for those of us who want to take advantage of gold’s stability and reliability. As inflation rises, the value of the pound in your pocket falls. If you want to protect your wealth against economic uncertainty, buying gold continues to be the most effective way to ensure this.

Start your gold investment portfolio today, by looking through our entire range of gold bars and gold coins.