Ethereum-based Digix and Republic Protocol doing dark pool crypto to gold trading

Singapore's Digix, the first ever company to issue an ICO on Ethereum, has partnered with a new decentralised dark pool exchange, Republic Protocol.

Digix creates DGX tokens, a gold-guaranteed cryptocurrency using Ethereum, which digital asset investors can trade with on a hidden order book to minimise price slippage.

Republic customers will be able to trade BTC, ETH or ERC20 based digital assets on a hidden order book directly with DGX tokens, which are redeemable for 1 gram of 99.99% LBMA standard gold per token.

"It's an honor for Republic Protocol to partner with a such a prestigious, veteran company such as Digix," said Taiyang Zhang, CEO of Republic Protocol. "Our goal is to allow the customers on our platform the flexibility to easily move their digital assets without adversely affecting the overall stability of the markets. By partnering with Digix, we will now be providing them with the opportunity to transfer their assets to the one of the most stable storages of wealth throughout history: traditional gold."

A dark pool is a private exchange where financial assets and instruments are traded and matched by an engine running on a hidden order book. These exchanges are primarily created to serve institutional or HNW retail investors who require a system where significant volumes of assets can be block traded with minimal price slippage. Dark pools are estimated to represent ​approximately 10-15%​ of the trading volume of all US stock trades.

"We are thrilled to be one of the first asset to be made available on the Republic Protocol platform," said Shaun Djie, COO of Digix. "DGX tokens will provide a stable, gold-backed digital asset for investors looking to secure their wealth and hedge against the volatile markets. Large holders of DGX tokens will also be able to invest their assets with minimal price slippage."

Digix was the first company in history to issue an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) on the Ethereum blockchain in early 2016 when they created the Digix Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DigixDAO) and released DGD tokens. Since then, they have pioneered a range of blockchain technologies involving digital assets, including the Proof of Asset (POA) Protocol and creation of the DGX token – a stable digital currency backed by physical gold bullion.

Together, Digix and Republic Protocol will be offering digital currency investors a secure, private and stable way for them store or invest their assets when the trading platform launches on the Ethereum Mainnet in Q3 of 2018.