Glint Pay Inc. (Glint), a subsidiary of the U.K.-based fintech company that makes gold an alternative global currency by enabling its clients to buy, sell, save and spend their physical gold instantly through the Glint Debit Mastercard and Glint App, today announces the launch of its products in the U.S. and the selection of Boulder, CO as its U.S. headquarters. To date, Glint has more than 50,000 app downloads, 10’s of thousands of registered users and more than USD $50 million in transacted volume.
The U.S. boasts a $7.6 trillion annual gold investment market1 in gold bars and coins that has been locked in vaults and unable to be used as money until now. Gold has historically been a better store of value than any government created currency, which typically erodes over time. Since 1970, the U.S. dollar has lost 86% of its purchasing power due to inflation2, whereas over the same period if you had held your wealth in gold, your purchasing power would have risen 505% (inflation adjusted). In 1970, a cheeseburger would have cost you $0.55 cents in the US.
In 2018, the same cheeseburger cost $3.47 due to the increase of U.S. annual average inflation, thus decreasing the value of the U.S. dollar. In 1970, a gram of gold would have bought you two cheeseburgers, whereas today a gram of gold would allow you to purchase twelve cheese burgers.
“Our mission is to bring a reliable gold currency to the fingertips of everyone in the world,” said Jason Cozens, Founder and CEO of Glint. “We are excited to introduce Glint to the U.S. market and continue our steady growth towards democratizing gold. Welcome to money’s new standard.”
As a fintech company, Glint is at the cutting edge of finance, enabling its customers to stay ahead of the fast-moving world of currency depreciation and exchange. “Gold has a crucial historic role as money, and we see it defining a future whereby people can take control over their own income streams and not leave them to the mercies of banks,” says Cozens. “As the world inexorably moves to being cashless, Glint provides the perfect future-proofed solution to 24/7 globalized living,” adds Cozens.
Glint’s U.S. office has a team of six people leading Operations, Compliance, Customer Service, Sales and Marketing. “We decided on Boulder, CO for our U.S. headquarters due to the state’s rich history in gold mining, vibrant culture and pristine natural surroundings,” said Cozens. “Boulder has also become a leading location for technology innovation, so the local talent pool will help us achieve our growth goals.”
Glint was founded in the U.K. in 2015 and launched its app in Europe in February 2018. It is the world’s first multi-currency payments solution that provides instantaneous ownership of physically allocated gold and the ability to use it as money digitally through an app and debit Mastercard. Physically allocated gold belongs outright to its owner, as opposed to unallocated gold or an ETF, which are still owned by the institutions that distribute them. Glint’s transactional gold currency offers users a more reliable form of money, shielding them from the destructive effects of inflation and protecting them from the systemic risk of future global financial crises.
At the U.S. launch, Glint will enable you to save in, exchange between and spend from dollar and gold wallets. And, in time, it will bring foreign currency wallets (already available in Europe), giving the ability to send gold and currencies to anyone with a smartphone as easily and instantly as you might send a text message, and at low to no cost, as well as paying bills. Fees are transparent and simple with a small 0.5% fee when buying or selling gold or spending in foreign currencies. There are no hidden fees, because Glint uses the real inter-bank exchange rate when spending in 150 currencies around the word. There is no fee when making a USD or gold-based purchase in the USA using the Glint Debit Mastercard.
Clay Wilkes, CEO of Galileo, which is powering Glint’s integration with Mastercard in the U.S., said, “We welcome Glint’s innovation in the U.S. market, giving consumers the choice to use gold—rather than dollars—to support everyday financial activities like buying a cup of coffee, paying bills or even getting cash from an ATM. Our robust APIs provide the flexibility for Glint to make gold-based transacting in the U.S. as simple and convenient as using a debit card. Glint identified an untapped opportunity and we’re delighted to work together to deliver a scalable solution that leverages the Mastercard payments network.”