Digital Wallet Implementation for Precious Metal Trading Platform
As the global influence of USD declines, more and more investors are leaning towards precious metals as a less volatile investment and trading instrument. Therefore, demand for efficient, safe, and functional trading platforms tailored to the specifics of precious metals is growing. Here is the case study of our collaboration with a Canada-based FinTech client on such a project.
Client’s Profile
The Client is a Canadian FinTech company, Argo Digital Gold Ltd. The business specializes in gold trading made more efficient and secure with the help of gold-backed digital assets.
Client’s Requirements/Goals
The Client contacted RNDpoint with the business idea of developing and launching a digital trading platform tailored specifically to precious metals. The original functionality is meant for digital gold trading, with the potential expansion to other precious metals. The vision behind the project was to give retail investors and traders access to gold ownership. The platform was supposed to have the functionality of depositing fiat money into the user’s account and purchasing the required amount of precious metal. Users are allowed to store, sell, or trade their gold possessions, as well as redeem their belongings in the form of physical gold from Argo’s vault.
Business Challenge
The first challenge we encountered when working on the Argo platform was the need to adapt and refine the company’s existing digital wallet to customer needs. The wallet didn’t have the functionality for gold trading and storage of gold reserves. The RNDpoint team also needed to introduce third-party integrations, such as payments, KYC, trading exchange rates, and email and SMS notifications.
Another challenge faced in the process of the platform’s development was the existing wallet’s lack of multi-currency support features. The wallet did not presuppose one user to hold assets in several currencies on their account. Therefore, we had to rework some of the core functions; CAD has already been integrated, and USD is currently being negotiated.
The RNDpoint team faced the technical challenge of designing an effective system to calculate the real-time cost of gold transactions. The algorithm should take into account the upper and lower permissible bounds of ounces and spreads that emerge as soon as a transaction is created. The differences should be factored in for open and closed market hours, with estimated and actual transaction weights taken into account at the transaction’s initiation.
We have also developed a robust gold asset allocation and reallocation system that allows for safe and efficient management of user holdings. The system tracks the number of gold bars uploaded to the admin portal and allocates their weight fractions among users according to their ownership.
Implementation
The project’s duration is scheduled for 10 months, with the start date of execution at the end of October 2023 and the platform’s release planned for August 2024. The team of six RNDpoint specialists is currently engaged in the development of the ARGO platform: 2 back-end developers, 2 front-end developers, 1 QA expert, 1 Business Analyst, and 1 Project Manager.
The technology stack chosen from the present project included the proprietary ProcessMIX low-code platform for the development of the platform’s back-end and React as the programming language for the front-end client app. The front admin portal is built in Angular.
Solution Delivered
After 8+ months of close collaboration with the Client’s team through meetings, calls, demo reviews, and correspondence, the main achievements of the RNDpoint team’s work on this project include:
Wallet Adaptation
We have updated and extended the existing wallet’s functionality to meet the full variety of users’ needs, such as account registration, user profile creation, deposit and withdrawal of funds, and release of real-time statements.
New Features
We have introduced the full spectrum of features needed to execute safe and transparent gold trades on the platform. Added functions included purchase, sale, and redemption of physical gold. Users can also calculate storage fees in real-time, get their gold allocated and reallocated by gold bars’ serial numbers, and use a helpful support portal.
Admin Portal Update
The team improved the functionality of the platform’s admin portal to let admins manage user and staff accounts, set limits and fees, conduct internal accounting operations with system wallets, and create and register precious metal trades with manual and automated methods.
Third-Party Integrations
We have introduced KYC and payment provider integrations, linked the platform to the email and SMS notification service, added a Jira integration, and set up an API integration with a gold price provider for real-time gold price updates and trade execution.
Project Outcomes
The project is still in the making, with its official release scheduled for August 2024. Upon deployment, the Argo platform is expected to become a pioneering digital resource in Canada specializing in precious metal trading and simplifying retail investor access to gold.
