Precious metals

Who should read this: Precious metals dealers, vault operators, custodians, and asset managers exploring tokenized commodity offerings.

Business value: Create a governed token record for a precious metal program: metal classification, weight terms, valuation input, custody context, holder visibility, and compliance-aware transfer controls.

Business challenge

Precious metals programs need a clear operational link between the token that investors hold and the metal program it represents. Operators must track the metal type, unit of account, pricing basis, storage context, and the compliance rules that determine who can hold or transfer the token.

Traditional approach

How to issue a precious metal asset

Use Asset Designer when the precious metals program is ready to model a tokenized asset. The wizard can start from a dedicated precious metal asset type or from an instrument template that preselects the asset class, deployable asset type, token features, defaults, and metadata fields for the issuance program.

1. Open Asset Designer and choose the real-world asset class.
2. Select the precious metal instrument template, then enter the asset name, symbol, decimals, and jurisdiction.
3. On the instrument details step, select the metal type. DALP supports gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Add the purity grade, vault location, and custodian when the program should expose those fields.
4. On the pricing and valuation step, choose the weight unit, enter the weight per token, and enter the current spot price per unit in the selected price currency.
5. Configure any compliance modules needed for the issuance rules, review the summary, and create the asset with PIN or OTP wallet verification.
6. After creation, use the asset workspace to inspect the metal metadata, holder balances, transfer activity, and available token actions. New assets are paused by default; unpause the asset when the operating approvals are complete.

For the operator walkthrough, see Create a precious metal asset. For the generic wizard flow, see Create asset.

Metal classification

A precious metal asset records the metal type as gold, silver, platinum, or palladium. Operators can also record a purity grade when the product requires that level of classification.

Weight-based token terms

The asset can define the unit used for the metal program, such as grams, troy ounces, or kilograms. It also records how much metal each token represents and the price currency and spot price per unit used for valuation.

Custody context

Operators can add storage context to the asset, including a vault location and a custodian or vault operator name. DALP surfaces this context on the asset detail view when it is present, so users can inspect the public-facing custody fields attached to the token. Those fields help users see which metal program the token is meant to represent, but they do not replace vault operations, inventory reconciliation, insurance, or independent audit procedures.

Compliance-aware transfers

Precious metal assets can be created with compliance modules. Those controls can limit who may receive or transfer the token according to the rules configured for the issuance program.

Holder and operational views

DALP shows token details and holder information through the asset workspace. Users can inspect the metal classification, purity, weight-per-token terms, storage location, custodian, supply, holders, and transfer activity where those fields and views are available for the asset.

Key capabilities

Example structure

A gold-backed product can be modeled with:

1. gold as the metal type
2. an optional purity grade, such as 999.9
3. a weight unit, such as troy ounces or grams
4. a weight-per-token value
5. a price currency and spot price per unit
6. optional vault location and custodian fields
7. compliance modules selected for the target issuance rules

The same model also supports silver, platinum, and palladium programs when the operator configures the appropriate metadata and compliance rules.

Compliance considerations

Precious metals programs usually need legal, custody, investor-eligibility, and market-operations review before launch. DALP provides configurable asset and compliance controls, but the issuer remains responsible for selecting the rules, operating the off-chain custody process, and validating the legal treatment of the product in each jurisdiction.

For detailed compliance architecture, see Compliance & Security.

Implementation checklist

1. Define the metal program and target jurisdictions
2. Choose the metal type and optional purity grade
3. Set the weight unit, weight per token, price currency, and spot price input
4. Decide which storage location and custodian fields should be visible
5. Define how assay certificates, storage receipts, chain-of-custody records, or insurance evidence will be stored and reviewed outside the token metadata
6. Select compliance modules for holder and transfer eligibility
7. Configure issuer, custodian, emergency, governance, and supply-management responsibilities as needed for the operating model
8. Create the token and review the detail, holder, and transfer views before making it available to users

Limitations and considerations

• Custody operations: DALP can show custody context fields, but off-chain vault operations, inventory reconciliation, insurance, and audit procedures remain issuer and custodian responsibilities.
• Pricing inputs: Valuation depends on the price currency and spot price inputs configured for the asset. Operators should define how those values are maintained and reviewed.
• Physical delivery: Any physical metal delivery or redemption workflow must be operated outside the token metadata unless a deployment adds a verified redemption process.
• Regulatory scope: Commodity, securities, and AML/KYC requirements vary by jurisdiction. Issuers should confirm the applicable rules before launch.

Next steps

• Review Compliance & Security to understand embedded compliance controls
• Review Asset contracts to understand how instrument profiles and configurable assets fit together
• Explore Developer Documentation for integration and operations guidance