While millions of investors understand the importance of gold as the ultimate money, they also understand that governments everywhere make it difficult to use gold as money. Until restrictions are lifted gold will have difficulty in reclaiming its monetary role. But the future of gold as money will be digital, with consumers being able to use gold-backed digital currency to make purchases. That could be one step closer to reality now that Google is introducing an option for Google Pay users to buy and sell gold.
The catch is that Google’s new plan is only under development for India. That’s probably not too surprising since India is one of the world’s largest markets for gold and a major driver of world gold demand. And Google isn’t even the first player to get into the market, with other digital payment providers having already paired their services with gold.
Those other services have seen massive demand for gold on their platforms, and it’s likely Google will see the same rise. With such a large presence, Google’s addition of gold to Google Pay will make it easier for many Indians to invest in gold, spurring increased demand.
Whether the ability to invest in gold through Google Pay will ever make it outside of India remains to be seen. But even if it doesn’t, the increase in demand for gold in the Indian market will only continue to rise as more and more payment providers allow their customers the option of investing in gold.
Any increase in gold demand is good news for gold investors in the US, at least those who already hold gold. That means the value of their holdings will continue to increase. For those looking to invest in gold, the coming surge in Indian gold demand means that the time to buy is right now before prices inevitably rise. So make sure you take advantage of gold’s relative affordability right now so that you can benefit from its ability to protect and safeguard your investment assets.
This article was originally posted on Goldco.
