_Exclusive Interview: Lakhwinder Singh on the Future of Tokenized Finance and $BIGOD)
The tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) is driving the convergence of traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi), making it no longer a concept for the future. Projects like the $BIGOD token and Professionals like Lakhwinder Singh and team are at the forefront of this movement, utilizing their extensive institutional knowledge to establish the essential connections between utility and trust. Lakhwinder's viewpoint is based on real-world implementation, working with BinGold Pte Ltd & AIIONGold Limited for their native $BIGOD token, along with a decade of experience spanning precious metals, FX, Web3, and now gold-backed digital assets. We sat down with him to cut through the hype and discuss the concrete challenges and strategies involved in bringing institutional demand to innovative blockchain projects.
1. Beyond the obvious benefits of fractionalization and liquidity, what is the most compelling, under-discussed value that a gold-backed token offers to an institutional portfolio that physical gold or a gold ETF does not?
A: While better liquidity and the ability to buy small pieces are huge perks, there's a bigger, quieter win for institutions. A token like $BIGOD gives you the best of both worlds: the safety net of gold with the real-world usefulness of a modern digital asset.
While a physical bar is inert and an ETF is a passive instrument, $BIGOD is engineered as a hybrid token. It functions first as a secure, gold-backed store of value—each token is redeemable for 250g of 24K gold, providing that crucial foundation and price floor. However, its second, and perhaps more transformative function, is its design for real-world adoption through its future applicability within the ecosystem.
This dual nature unlocks unparalleled value:
- Real-World Applicability: We are building an ecosystem where the masses can use this stable, gold-backed asset. Businesses and merchants can streamline their operations, bypassing the high transaction fees associated with traditional banking and credit card networks. This provides institutions with a compelling narrative: they are investing not just in gold, but in the infrastructure for a new, efficient digital economy.
- Programmable Yield & Ecosystem Growth: Unlike static gold, $BIGOD is composable within the DeFi ecosystem. Institutions can leverage it to generate yield through staking within our expanding ecosystem. This growth potential is a feature absent in the current DeFi and TradFi markets.
$BIGOD offers institutions the best of both worlds: the safety and stability of a gold-backed security token, combined with the growth potential. It’s not merely a reflection of gold's value; it’s an active, productive asset class in its own right.
2. Institutional investors are inherently risk-averse. Beyond regulatory compliance, what are the top two or three factors you must demonstrate to earn their trust in a novel asset class like a gold-backed token?
A: Earning the trust of institutional investors requires moving beyond mere compliance to demonstrate fundamental operational integrity and a compelling, long-term value proposition. For $BIGOD, we focus on three critical factors beyond regulation:
1. Unwavering Asset Stability and Minimal Volatility: Institutions prioritize capital preservation. Therefore, the foremost factor we demonstrate is how $BIGOD is engineered for stability. Its value is directly pegged to the least volatile, prestigious asset: physical gold. This isn't a speculative cryptocurrency; it's a modern, digital representation of a timeless store of value. We provide precise, verifiable data showing the token's tight correlation to gold prices, highlighting its role as a safe-haven asset within a portfolio, designed to minimize volatility and protect wealth.
2. Conceptual Clarity: Complexity is a barrier to entry. We overcome innate risk-aversion by ensuring the project's concept is exceptionally easy to grasp. We position $BIGOD not as a complex DeFi protocol, but as digital gold with enhanced utility. The core value proposition is instantly understandable: each token is backed by physical gold, providing a secure foundation. We then layer on the clear, practical utility—such as enabling low-cost, borderless transactions. This straightforward narrative allows institutional allocators to quickly assess its role within a portfolio without getting lost in technological jargon.
3. A Demonstrable Long-Term Vision and Roadmap: Institutions are not investing for the next bull run; they are investing for the next decade. We earn trust by presenting a detailed, multi-decade roadmap that outlines a clear path for continuous growth, ecosystem development, and evolution within the Web3 space. $BIGOD is built as an enduring infrastructure, not a short-term project, ensuring institutional investment is future-proofed and aligned with a vision of long-term, sustainable growth.
3. Walk us through the initial objections you consistently face from traditional finance professionals when introducing the concept of a gold-backed digital asset. What is your strategy for moving them from skepticism to serious consideration?
A: That's an excellent question, as it gets to the very heart of bridging traditional finance (TradFi) with decentralized finance (DeFi). We consistently encounter three primary objections:
The first objection is regarding asset legitimacy and custody: "How can I be certain the gold actually exists and is secure?" This is a perfectly valid concern, as trust in TradFi is built on audited balance sheets and regulated custodians.
- Our Strategy: We move past theoretical promises and immediately point to our partnership with top-tier security/vault storage companies worldwide, such as Brinks, a globally recognized custodian with insured, high-security vaulting. We provide transparent, attestation-style reports from independent auditors that verify the physical bars stored. We don't ask them to trust a smart contract; we ask them to trust a renowned institution they already know.
The second objection is about market liquidity and volatility: "This is a novel asset; won't it be illiquid or trade at a wild premium/discount to the spot price of gold?"
- Our Strategy: We demonstrate, not just explain. We present our track record since our launch in December 2023, highlighting its low volatility (~7%) similar to that of the gold price. We have sold over US$250M of tokens with a Market Cap of over US$100M, ensuring that institutional-scale orders can be filled without significant slippage. We present data tracking the historical peg to gold, demonstrating its stability and efficiency as a price-tracking mechanism, effectively arguing that it behaves more like a stable commodity ETF than a volatile cryptocurrency.
The third, and perhaps most crucial, objection is about practical application: "This seems like a solution in search of a problem. Why do I need this when gold ETFs and futures exist?"
- Our Strategy: This is where we pivot from defense to offense. We acknowledge the efficiency of existing instruments but then highlight the unique utility of a digital asset. We explain its function as a 24/7, borderless settlement layer. We illustrate its use in programmable finance—how it can be used to earn yield in decentralized markets, turning a traditionally stagnant asset into a productive one. Most importantly, we showcase the future ecosystem of merchants and businesses that will be accepting $BIGOD for payments, proving its real-world utility as a superior medium of exchange, not just a store of value.
Our overall strategy is one of education and demonstration. We respect their skepticism—it's their job to be risk-averse. We simply provide the robust, institutional-grade answers and real-world evidence that allows them to see $BIGOD not as a speculative crypto asset, but as a more efficient, modern evolution of gold itself.
4. How do you structure token economics and redemption mechanics to reconcile on-chain liquidity with the operational realities of physical settlement and delivery?
A: That is a sophisticated question, and it gets to the very heart of maintaining a sustainable model for a digital asset backed by a physical commodity. Our approach for $BIGOD is built on two core principles: uncompromising asset backing and controlled monetary policy, both designed to ensure stability and trust.
Firstly, on the redemption mechanics: You are correct that because we hold the gold entirely in our secured, insured vaults, we maintain complete control over the redemption process. We've designed this to be as user-centric as possible while accounting for the logistical realities of physical delivery. Holders can initiate a redemption request for the physical 250g gold bars backing their tokens at any time, and our dedicated team will work with them to seamlessly process the request.
Secondly, on token economics and supply management: Our strategy is deliberately conservative to protect the asset's price stability and inherent value.
We have a fixed initial supply of 2.5 million tokens, each representing a claim on 250g of gold. This supply will not be increased until the initial allocation is fully distributed. This controlled issuance prevents inflation of the token supply and ensures that every token in circulation is fully backed from day one. It creates natural scarcity, allowing the market to discover the token's price based on genuine demand without the downward pressure of a dilutive supply.
Once this initial supply is sold out, any subsequent minting of new tokens will be directly and exclusively tied to the acquisition of new physical gold. Furthermore, this new liquidity will be introduced to the market in a measured, transparent manner to avoid sudden shocks, ensuring the economics remain balanced and the peg to gold is protected.
5. How do you position a project like BinGold ($BIGOD) against established, TradFi-backed competitors entering the RWA space, such as BlackRock's BUIDL fund or JPMCoin?
A: That's an excellent question that gets to the core of our strategic vision. The entry of institutions like BlackRock and JPMorgan is a strong validation of the entire Real World Asset (RWA) tokenization thesis. However, we don't see them as direct competitors; instead, we see BinGold occupying a distinct and complementary niche in the evolving digital asset landscape. Our positioning is built on three key differentiators: accessibility, utility, and agility.
1. Targeted Accessibility and Fractionalization: While a fund like BUIDL is a monumental step for institutional treasury management, its minimum investment size and accredited investor requirements naturally limit its audience. BinGold is built for a broader market. By backing each token with a specific, tangible weight of gold (250g), we provide a clear, understandable value proposition. We are democratizing access to institutional-grade gold ownership, making it available to retail investors, small businesses, and a global audience 24/7, without the high barriers to entry of traditional finance.
2. Real-World Utility Over Pure Abstraction: Products like JPMCoin are designed as wholesale settlement mechanisms within a closed, permissioned network for institutional clients. Their value is in efficiency, but they remain an abstracted representation of value within the traditional banking system.
Our focus is on building real-world utility. $BIGOD isn't just a digitized fund unit; it's designed to be a functional medium of exchange within a growing ecosystem. We are actively partnering with merchants and businesses to understand their pain points, which $BIGOD can solve by bypassing traditional banking inefficiencies and currency volatility.
3. Agility and Ecosystem Integration: Large institutions move with deliberate speed within established regulatory perimeters. As a native digital asset project, we possess inherent agility. We can integrate directly with DeFi protocols, DEXs, and emerging Web3 infrastructures to offer yield opportunities and seamless composability that TradFi players cannot easily replicate. Our ability to innovate and build community-centric solutions allows us to create a vibrant ecosystem around the token itself, offering growth potential beyond the baseline value of the underlying gold.
In summary, our strategy is not to compete with BlackRock on their turf but to pioneer a new one. They are tokenizing financial instruments for institutional efficiency. We are tokenizing physical gold to create a new, decentralized financial ecosystem designed for everyone.
6. How does the volatility of the underlying blockchain (e.g., Ethereum gas fees, crypto market swings) impact your value proposition to an institution primarily interested in gold exposure, not crypto speculation?
A: This is a fundamental concern, and we address it head-on by architecting a system that effectively insulates the institution from the inherent volatility of the broader crypto market. For an institution focused solely on gold exposure, our value proposition remains intact because the $BIGOD token's value is derived from a stable, real-world asset, not speculative digital currency movements.
We achieve this insulation through strategic technical and economic design:
1. Strategic Blockchain Selection for Stability and Low Cost: We deliberately built $BIGOD on the BEP-20 network to directly mitigate the issue of volatility and high transaction fees. Unlike the Ethereum mainnet, the BSC ecosystem offers negligible, predictable transaction costs and faster settlement times. This strategic choice ensures that the operational use of $BIGOD—whether transferring, transacting, or participating in our ecosystem—is not hampered by the gas fee volatility of other chains. For the institution, the blockchain becomes an efficient, invisible rail, not a source of cost uncertainty.
2. A Two-Fold Pricing Mechanism Decoupled from Crypto Volatility: Critically, the value of a $BIGOD token is not determined by the fluctuations of Bitcoin or Ethereum. Its pricing mechanism is two-fold and deliberately insulated from crypto market swings:
- Foundation: The Hard Floor. The primary and foundational price driver is the live market value of its underlying physical asset: 250g of 24K gold. This establishes a firm, non-speculative floor for the token's value, providing the stability and security institutions require.
- Growth: Ecosystem Demand. The secondary driver is the organic demand and supply for the token within its own growing ecosystem. As more merchants, partners, and users adopt $BIGOD for payments and services, its value can appreciate. This creates potential for value appreciation above the gold price floor, based on its real-world utility and adoption.
7. Which custody model do you most often recommend for institutional clients: segregated allocated bars, pooled trust structures, or on-chain multi-sig custodial solutions? And why?
A: Our custody philosophy is architected to provide the highest possible security for both the digital token and the physical asset, leveraging a hybrid model that is both innovative and grounded in the proven practices of the precious metals industry. For institutional clients, we recommend and employ a multi-layered model centered on an on-chain multi-sig custodial wallet for the token, with the physical gold reserves held in segregated, allocated storage by our sister company, AIIONGOLD.
This structure is designed to eliminate single points of failure and ensure continuity under any circumstance. Here’s why it’s so effective:
1. On-Chain Security Through Multi-Sig Custody: The $BIGOD tokens are secured in a multi-signature wallet. This requires authorization from multiple independent parties within our organization to execute any significant transaction. This prevents any single individual from having unilateral control over the digital assets, drastically reducing the risk of internal malfeasance or external theft. It is the institutional-grade standard for securing digital assets on-chain.
2. Physical Security and Continuity Through Segregated Storage: The physical gold backing every token is held not by a third-party custodian, but by our sister company, AIIONGOLD. This is a strategic choice that allows for seamless operational integration and absolute accountability. The gold is held in a segregated, allocated manner, meaning the specific bars backing the token supply are identified and set aside exclusively for this purpose.
3. The Industry-Standard Backup Plan: Insolvency Protection Most importantly, this structure incorporates a critical safeguard standard in the precious metals industry: a clear and legally binding continuity plan. In the improbable event that the entity issuing the token were to become insolvent, the structure prevents a catastrophic collapse for holders. Because the physical gold is held separately by AIIONGOLD, it is protected from the issuing company's creditors. AIIONGOLD is legally obligated to step in and process the allocation of the physical gold directly to the token holders, based on the immutable on-chain record of ownership.
In essence, we have decoupled the digital asset from the physical asset in terms of legal structure, but not in terms of backing. This provides an unparalleled layer of security for institutional clients. They are not just relying on the promise of a single company, but on a deliberately engineered system where the failure of one entity triggers a pre-defined, secure process for redemption by another. This eliminates the existential risk of insolvency and gives holders the concrete security they need to invest with confidence.
8. From your front-line experience, what is the single largest regulatory ambiguity hindering faster institutional adoption of tokenized assets today, and how is your team navigating it?
A: The single most significant regulatory ambiguity stifling institutional adoption is the binary classification struggle between utility and security tokens. This outdated framework forces complex digital assets into narrow boxes they weren't designed to fit, creating significant legal uncertainty. Projects like ours are fundamentally hybrid in nature—possessing characteristics of both utility and security—and the lack of a clear regulatory pathway for this model is a significant hurdle.
Institutions require absolute clarity on the legal status of an asset before allocation. The ambiguity around which regulatory regime applies—and the potential for that classification to change across borders or over time—creates a paralyzing compliance risk that outweighs the potential technological benefits for many traditional portfolios.
Our team navigates this by proactively seeking clarity and adhering to the highest possible standard: pursuing accreditation as a security token under the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Rather than operating in a grey area, we are actively engaging with MAS, arguably Asia's leading and most respected financial regulator, to have $BIGOD classified as a regulated security token.
By voluntarily submitting to the rigorous capital, custody, and disclosure requirements of a security token regime, we are not denying our hybrid nature; we are prioritizing security and trust. This allows us to offer institutions the certainty they demand while continuing to build out the utilities that provide long-term value to all holders.
9. Having built a career across both traditional FX and cutting-edge crypto, what is the most critical lesson you've learned about adapting your leadership and communication style to drive development in such a rapidly evolving industry?
A: Having navigated the structured, high-stakes environment of TradFi and now the dynamic, frontier landscape of crypto, the most critical lesson I've learned is that success hinges on being a bilingual translator, not just a domain expert.
The two worlds operate on different frequencies. TradFi is built on established protocols, deep risk aversion, and a hierarchy of trusted intermediaries. Crypto is built on disruption, composability, and trust-minimized code. The leader's role is to build a bridge between these two paradigms.
This translates into two non-negotiable adaptations in my leadership style:
1. From Jargon to Narrative: Simplifying Without Diluting. In TradFi, complexity was a barrier to entry. In crypto, it's the primary barrier to adoption. My most important daily task is to distill highly technical concepts—such as hybrid token models or on-chain custody—into clear, compelling narratives that both developers and institutional allocators can understand and believe in. This means relentlessly focusing on the 'why' and the 'so what' before the 'how.' We don't lead with "We use a multi-sig custodian wallet"; we lead with "We've built a fortress around your assets, requiring multiple keys to move them, so your gold is always secure." It's about making the revolutionary feel intuitive.
2. Balancing Innovative Velocity with Institutional Rigor. The crypto ethos is "move fast and break things." The TradFi ethos is "move deliberately and nothing breaks." For a project like BinGold, which sits at the intersection of both, neither is sufficient on its own. Our team must foster a culture that embraces the innovative velocity of Web3—the ability to pivot, experiment, and build rapidly—but tempers it with the operational rigor, risk management, and compliance frameworks honed in traditional finance. We must be agile enough to capture market opportunities but robust enough to earn institutional trust. This means building a team that values both a brilliant smart contract auditor and a brilliant chief risk officer equally.
Ultimately, the lesson is that the technology itself is only half the battle. The other half—and perhaps the more critical one—is human-factor engineering: building trust, ensuring clarity, and demonstrating tangible value in a way that resonates across the entire spectrum from a seasoned fund manager to someone buying their first fraction of a gold-backed token.