Founded in 2015, Glint offers Android and iOS mobile apps that allows users to save in gold and spend their gold savings on demand with the Glint debit card.
Glint’s eight year history includes a 2019 bankruptcy and a $6.3 million (£5 million) bailout from new investors. Roy Sebag, founder of the competing digital gold company Goldmoney, penned a thoughtful essay highlighting the inherent riskiness of providing debit cards that seek to provide users with the ability to spend physical gold on demand. We can’t help but wonder if any of the issues highlighted by Sebag led to Glint’s bankruptcy.
Today, Glint claims to serve more than 36,000 users, to hold more than $100 million worth of physical gold on their behalf, and to provide a debit card accepted in 210 countries1.
There’s just one small problem, Glint won’t provide any proof that it holds a single gram of physical gold.
A reader forwarded us the following e-mail response from Glint when asked where they could find audits supporting Glint’s gold holdings:
Lucie (Glint)
Mar 29, 2023, 16:14 GMT+1
Hello, I hope this email finds you well. The number of units held by all Clients which is recorded in the Accounts always represents an identical amount of Gold held in the Vaults. This is reconciled daily and audited every quarter. At the moment, it is not possible to share our audit reports, however, our management team is working to make a client-facing version available in the future. Please let me know if you have any questions and I will be happy to help. Kind regards,
Kemp House, 124, City Road, London. EC1V 2NX. PO Box 18899 Boulder, CO 80308.
After eight years of operation and more than $6 million invested, this company cannot provide audits or any other proof they hold gold at all? This seemed hard to believe, so we asked them the same question directly.
Apr 12, 13:42 PM To: support@glintpay.com, support_usa@glintpay.com
Is it true you refuse to provide any proof that Glint holds gold?
We understand you claim to have audits but you refuse to show them to anybody?
We found this surprising but wanted to verify this first hand with you.
Thanks.
Glint’s reply:
Klaidas (Glint)
Apr 12, 2023, 16:12 GMT+1
Hello there, Thank you for getting in touch with us. I would like to assure you that Glint Pay is fully authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 for the issuing of electronic money (FRN 900657). Our clients' e-money is held in segregated, safeguarded client accounts in a Tier 1 bank. Our client's gold is legally owned by them and held on their behalf in a Brinks vault in Switzerland. Client gold is insured to 100% of their value and your statements act as proof of ownership. If anything were to happen to Glint, you would be reimbursed the full value of your gold holding (100% of your Gold returned). I can also confirm that we have audits every single month by an independent auditor who counts and verifies every single gold bar. Furthermore, our management team is working to make a client-facing version available in the future. Please do let me know if there is anything else that I can help you with today. Kind regards,
Kemp House, 124, City Road, London. EC1V 2NX. PO Box 18899 Boulder, CO 80308.
Glint’s response ignored the question that was asked and instead answered two imaginary questions that were not asked (“How is Glint regulated?” and “Where does Glint store its users assets?”). Interesting questions and answers, for sure, but certainly not proof that Glint holds physical gold equal to or greater than its users’ account balances.
If Glint holds physical gold on behalf of their users, why are they unable or unwilling to provide any proof?
For a deeper dive into the history of Glint and its financials, watch this outstanding analysis by Parallel Systems.
This seems like a dubious claim; there are only 193 countries currently recognized by the UN, and the longest list of countries we can find has 215. Does Glint’s Mastercard really work in 210 of these “countries”? Isn’t Mastercard subject to sanctions blocking use in some of these countries? When asked for a list of countries where Glint’s debit card is accepted they ignored the question and instead stated “You are able to use your Glint Mastercard anywhere that accepts Mastercard as a form of payment.”
Many great points. Thanks. It seems impossible that client deposits and gold deposits are always fully matched, given the on demand nature of credit card usage. Also, their claim that all customers own their gold is also suspect, given their claim that it is difficult for customers to take physical possession of their gold because they own larger bullion bars.
Many great points. Thanks. It seems impossible that client deposits and gold deposits are always fully matched, given the on demand nature of credit card usage. Also, their claim that all customers own their gold is also suspect, given their claim that it is difficult for customers to take physical possession of their gold because they own larger bullion bars.
Nicely Covered. Yet again another Faith Based Investment Scheme.