Polina is an undergraduate student at Belarusian State Economic University (BSEU) where she is studying at the faculty of International Business Communication for a degree specializing in Intercultural Communication. In her spare time she enjoys drawing, music and travelling.
Gold has always been considered one of the most reliable investment assets. Unlike paper currencies, which lose their value because of inflation, gold tends to maintain its purchasing power within time. Due to its unique characteristics, the material is being widely used in healthcare and aerospace industries, as well as in the production of smartphones, computers, and microprocessors. Moreover, world’s central banks have started to expand their gold reserves, thus driving demand for this precious metal.
Despite the ongoing growth of the industry, which hit more than $1 trillion last year, it is still inefficient for developers to launch gold mining projects. When offering gold mining investment opportunities, banks mainly give priority to financial giants, making it difficult for other investors to make profit on gold mining. Overall, only 0,5% of people worldwide have an opportunity to invest in gold mining projects.
GOLDEA is a revolutionary platform that aims to solve these issues. By using blockchain technology, the project’s team wants to eliminate middlemen, making investment process more transparent and less complex. Besides, the technology will allow to eliminate intermediary costs, remove existing barriers and reduce investment risk.
“With GOLDEA, we unlock the gold mining potential and democratize investing in gold mining with higher standards in terms of transparency and voting feature of each investor,” the project white paper reads. “So, the era of irritating burocracy, abundant paperwork, budget discrimination, and time-consuming practices is finally going to history.”
After raising $245,000 in its pre-sale, the startup is now running the first phase of its ICO that will continue until December 31, 2017. The crowdsale will be conducted in four rounds during four months, with the value of its GEA tokens growing each round.
The first project is located in Mali, which holds great gold mining potential and according to GOLDEA will lead the world in terms of production volume. In 2016, gold production in Mali amounted to 67.4 tons, making the country the third largest gold producer in Africa after South Africa and Ghana.
Furthermore, the mining in the country is becoming more attractive due to a number of positive developments in the sector. Recently, the government cancelled 130 mining permits, which account for about 30% of the existing permits, and upgraded the country’s estimated reserves by a third, thus boosting investor confidence.
Each GEA token will represent a generated profit from the project’s gold mining operations within time. The amount of tokens is limited and with an unlimited metal production potential, the price of tokens will rise over time.
By taking part in an ICO, contributors will also be able to contribute to the struggle against poverty, as part of funds raised will go on the charity program to local community.