Streamex Corp said it signed a letter of intent with Simplify Asset Management to work together on a strategic partnership that would put the company’s tokenized, yield-bearing gold into ETF structures.
The announcement gives an idea of how things might work, but it’s not a binding deal. Any product would depend on getting final agreements and signoffs from regulators.
The proposed partnership focuses on a simple idea that could have big effects on investing in commodities.
Streamex wants to go beyond the usual gold ETFs that don’t pay out by adding a tokenized instrument that pays a return from leasing gold.
As of mid-September, Simplify, an ETF sponsor, had more than $10 billion in assets under management. They would provide the fund wrapper and distribution power.
Executives said that the deal was a way to connect the mainstream ETF market with blockchain based assets without making investors leave the safety of regulated products.
In a press release, Henry McPhie, the CEO of Streamex, said that the goal is to bring together the $10 trillion ETF industry with the new idea of tokenizing real world assets.
Paul Kim, the CEO and co-founder of Simplify, said that adding tokenized gold yield to an ETF would create a whole new type of investment.
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The letter of intent comes after Streamex’s earlier partnership with Monetary Metals, which set the stage for the yield part.
The companies announced an exclusive deal earlier this month that lets Streamex tokenize gold products that pay interest. Based on Monetary Metals leasing programs, the target is up to 4% per year.
The companies also said that Streamex plans to pay for some of the eligible leases and share in the revenue from leasing.
These steps are meant to help increase the supply for a possible ETF. Those economic goals are not guarantees, and they are still at risk from market and operational factors.
If the structure works as planned, a gold ETF could give you exposure to the metal’s price while also giving you a cash flow stream linked to leasing activity in the physical market.
The strategy may also address a long-standing criticism of gold in asset allocation models, specifically that the metal does not generate income, by combining a well-known ticker with a yield source based in the gold supply chain.
Tokenized assets in an ETF raise issues about custody, valuation, auditing, and the creation and redemption of assets that regulators and authorized participants will need to address.
The letter of intent makes it clear that the partnership is only possible if there are final agreements and regulatory approval. This means that the timelines and details about the products are still up in the air.
Even if approvals come through, the yield on gold leasing can change, and investors would need clear information about how returns are made, how counterparty risk is handled, and how the tokenized position affects net asset value.
The move happens as Streamex makes a big change in its business. The company changed its name from BioSig Technologies to STEX on September 12 and started trading under that name.
Management has changed the business’s focus to being a real world asset tokenization platform that focuses on bringing gold and other commodities onto the blockchain.
This is supported by a gold denominated treasury and tokenization infrastructure. This change in focus helps explain the focus on precious metals yield and the push to turn it into an ETF wrapper.
