Quick answer: The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) and the World Gold Council (WGC) launched the Gold Bar Integrity (GBI) Programme in March 2022 to track the provenance and chain of custody of gold bars using distributed-ledger technology. Swiss firm aXedras was appointed to run the GBI Database, built on R3’s Corda enterprise blockchain, and the system went live in January 2025. It is a provenance and responsible-sourcing record, not a tokenized gold trading platform.
Updated 07/17/2026. By Jake Claver. Educational content, not investment advice.
Gold’s oldest problem is trust: proving a bar is genuine and responsibly sourced. The bullion market has historically relied on the “Good Delivery” reputation of accredited refiners and on paperwork that follows a bar through vaults and dealers. The Gold Bar Integrity Programme is an attempt to put that assurance on a shared digital ledger so a bar’s origin and history can be verified rather than trusted on faith. It is a concrete example of established institutions using distributed-ledger technology for a narrow, practical job.
What the Gold Bar Integrity Programme is
The LBMA and WGC announced the programme on 28 March 2022. According to the LBMA and WGC launch statement, the aim is an international system of gold-bar integrity, chain of custody, and provenance covering the supply chain from mine to end consumer. The World Gold Council release describes the ledger as creating an immutable record of a bar’s place of origin and chain of custody. At launch, two blockchain companies, aXedras and Peer Ledger, were selected for a pilot to show how their technology could deliver the ecosystem. CME Group publicly endorsed the effort.
Who is aXedras and what does it run
aXedras is a Swiss software company founded in 2018 that builds distributed-ledger solutions for the precious-metals industry. Its milestones page traces the path: a World Gold Council endorsement in 2023, adoption by more than a dozen WGC member mining companies, and an LBMA mandate to operate the GBI Database. Its platform, the Bullion Integrity Ledger, captures provenance data upstream from mining and supports refiner and vault data downstream, so the market gets one shared solution rather than a set of isolated systems, with participants keeping ownership of their own data.
The technical foundation matters for accuracy. As Ledger Insights reported, the aXedras Bullion Integrity Ledger runs on R3’s Corda enterprise blockchain. This is a permissioned, enterprise ledger, not a public cryptocurrency network. The contract for the GBI Database was awarded in March 2024, and the system went live in January 2025.
What the database actually holds
The design is deliberately restrained. Per LBMA CEO Ruth Crowell, the database initially focuses on two datasets:
- Refiner data, tied to the source and production of the bar.
- London vault data, tied to where bars are held.
Ownership data stays with the custodians. The system centralizes responsible-sourcing and country-of-origin information and automates the flagging of potential risks, rather than consolidating every participant’s holdings into one pool. That distinction is what makes it acceptable to a market built on discretion.
Provenance is not the same as tokenization
It is worth separating two ideas that often get merged. The GBI Database is a provenance and integrity record: it proves where a bar came from and how it moved. Tokenization, by contrast, is representing ownership of gold as a transferable digital token that can be traded or used as collateral. The GBI Programme is a foundation that could support tokenized products later, because credible provenance is a prerequisite for anyone issuing a token backed by a specific bar, but the programme itself is not a tokenized gold market. Reading it as one overstates what has actually shipped.
Why this matters for market infrastructure
Real-world assets only move onto digital rails when their provenance can be trusted at institutional standard. A permissioned ledger run by the market’s own standard-setter, capturing refiner and vault data, is exactly the kind of trusted-record layer that broader tokenization depends on. The Bank for International Settlements, in its analysis of tokenisation and the future monetary system, frames tokenized assets as claims recorded on programmable platforms, and a gold bar’s verified history is precisely the sort of claim that has to be solid before it can be tokenized. Gold is a useful test case because its value is physical and its supply chain is long, so getting provenance right on a ledger is a meaningful proof of concept for other real-world assets.
Common questions
What is the LBMA Gold Bar Integrity Programme?
It is an initiative launched by the London Bullion Market Association and the World Gold Council on 28 March 2022 to track the provenance and chain of custody of gold bars from mine to consumer using distributed-ledger technology, creating an immutable record of a bar’s origin and history.
What technology does the Gold Bar Integrity Database use?
The GBI Database is operated by Swiss firm aXedras using its Bullion Integrity Ledger, which runs on R3’s Corda enterprise blockchain. This is a permissioned enterprise ledger, not a public cryptocurrency network. The system went live in January 2025.
Is this the same as tokenized gold?
No. The GBI Database is a provenance and responsible-sourcing record that proves where a bar came from and how it moved. Tokenized gold represents ownership of gold as a transferable digital token. Reliable provenance is a foundation that could support tokenized products, but the programme itself is not a tokenized gold trading market.
What data does the GBI Database hold?
According to the LBMA, it initially focuses on two datasets: refiner data tied to the source and production of a bar, and London vault data tied to where bars are held. Ownership information stays with the custodians, and the system centralizes responsible-sourcing and country-of-origin data rather than consolidating all holdings.
Who is behind the programme?
The London Bullion Market Association and the World Gold Council launched and govern the programme. aXedras runs the database, and CME Group publicly endorsed the effort. More than a dozen World Gold Council member mining companies have adopted the aXedras platform.
This content is educational only. It is not tax, legal, or investment advice. Check primary sources and speak with a qualified professional before making financial decisions.
