In May, Forbes covered “a brand-new financial product coming from the Islamic world that combines the popularity of Bitcoin with the timeless value of physical gold”: OneGram, a gold-backed, fully Sharia-compliant crypto currency.
The OneGram Coin (OGC) Initial Coin Offering (ICO), which has raised more than $1.5 million since its launch on May 27, is continuing until September 27 with the goal of selling the whole supply of more than 12 million OGCs, equivalent to more than $500 million. Click here if you want to participate.
OneGram Founder and CEO Ibrahim Mohammed discussed the current status of OneGram, as well as the project’s goals and overall outlook, with Crypto Insider.
Why are Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Gulf region a fertile ground for innovative blockchain fintech?
The UAE is the perfect environment for blockchain and fintech development and implementation since the UAE government are so dedicated to creating a digital sustainable city. For a number of years the UAE government has been implementing technology across government departments to improve services and processing times to ensure a better standard of living for their citizens. This has culminated into the Dubai Smart City initiative, which will be showcased at Expo2020. The UAE is a visionary country that wants to advance in technology and living standards, and has the investment to achieve its aim. The UAE welcomes fintech firms to be a part of the UAE and contribute to technological advancement of the UAE.
Why is Dubai a good base for OneGram?
OneGram is everything that epitomizes the UAE. The Emirates have been renowned in history as a gold trading hub and even today millions flock to the famous Gold Souq in Old Dubai to purchase the precious metal. Dubai in recent times has also been referred to as the home of Islamic finance. With firms based in the International financial center leading global development in Islamic Finance, Dubai stands tall. When you throw into the mix Dubai’s hunger for fintech and digitization, OneGram has all of these and similar qualities. OneGram is the first ever Islamic cryptocurrency backed with physical gold. Dubai is also associated with record breaking, and OneGram is the largest ICO in history almost 10 times larger than any other ICO before.
When you consider all of these comparisons I think the only place that could house OneGram is Dubai.
Could you describe your relationship with the Dubai administration and its “blockchain city” plans?
We have been engaging with local regulators discussing the possibilities of getting OneGram regulated, however the crypto space is not so straight forward for a regulator as there are so many factors to consider.
Could you describe your relationship with GoldGuard?
GoldGuard and OneGram are joint ventures. GoldGuard manages the sourcing, sales and management of gold. Through a sophisticated and secure dashboard OneGram customers will purchase the ICO through GoldGuard. I am the CEO of OneGram and the Managing Director of GoldGuard.
Could you share some info on your forthcoming financial products?
GoldGuard is currently finalizing the launch of two exciting new products. The first is “Liquid Gold,” which is conventional gold investment purchased at spot rate with a small premium of 2 percent payable to GG. The spot gold will be stored in the wallets of investors and they can access the gold any time digitally. Users can transfer gold, send gold or pay with gold.
The second product is our MasterCard fiat solution which allows GoldGuard customers to spot trade gold at anytime and have access to fiat through their Mastercard debit card. Customers can store fiat or gold on their MasterCard and use it globally.
What if the price of gold crashes, and how likely is that to happen? Or alternatively, why do you think the price of gold is poised to go up, and why is gold a good investment in general?
A gold price crash is extremely unlikely to happen when one considers the current global climate. If you look at the unstable US administration, the bungled UK government and the potential for war in a number of countries, gold is the safest investment. History demonstrates that in times of uncertainty gold is the store of value investment investors rely on. OneGram also has a unique feature called a staking reward, where 70 percent of all blockchain fees are invested into purchasing new gold which is equally distributed to each coin with OneGram. This increases the gold value of each OGC and also acts as a mechanism to counter any financial losses should the gold price dip.
Of course a Sharia-compliant cryptocurrency is important for Muslims, but why is it also important for non-Muslims? Why should the rest of the world invest in OneGram?
Well, surprisingly, if you study the 3000+ registrations we currently have, the majority are not Muslims. OneGram is not just important to Muslims – it is open for everyone and we are pleased that non-Muslim investment is strong in OneGram. I think the main reason for this is that OneGram is a physical gold backed cryptocurrency, which minimizes the risk exposure an investor has. In OneGram, during the ICO, 90 percent of investor money is placed in physical gold whilst only 10 percent contributes towards the coin and the blockchain development. This is totally different from any other cryptocurrency, and our safe unique investment with the potential return of investment when OneGram goes live makes OGC the smartest, safest and highest potential return investment currently in any market.
I think another important factor for non-Muslims could be that the financial weight and business impact of the Islamic world (and especially the Gulf region) are booming, and people anywhere will need to do business with Islamic counterparts. Therefore, if the Islamic world supports OneGram, the rest of the world should support it too. Do you agree?
I totally agree. The Muslim world finally has a fintech digital innovation that is Sharia-compliant and is something they can claim as their own and be proud of. The experts are hailing OneGram as an evolution and if the Muslim world widely adopt OGC, with the population the Islamic world has, it could easily be a coin to rival Bitcoin in terms of usage and price, considering OGC only has half the number of coins Bitcoin does.
Islamic finance experts have said that OGC potentially can change the digital face of Islamic finance.
We all know that, unfortunately, recent events have created tensions between the Islamic world and the West. What could be the impact on OneGram?
OneGram is not a politicized tool or specifically a product just for Muslims. OneGram has relied on Sharia regulation because Islamic Finance is known for its fairness, clarity and protection for investors. We relied upon Sharia regulation as we want OneGram to operate with best business practices and we want our investors to have a fair transparent regulatory environment. Also, globally there is a huge shortage of Islamic finance products and limited innovation, so OneGram has attempted to plug this shortfall with a unique investment offering.
What happens if the OGC supply is not entirely sold at the end of the sale?
If the total number of OGC is not sold at the end of the sale the unsold coins will be burned which basically means they will be taken out of circulation.