The Web3 rewards ecosystem, built around gold left undisturbed underground, hit the milestone just weeks after the World Gold Council and Boston Consulting Group sized up long-term demand for digital gold.
Per an announcement published today by nGRND Gold Protocol, more than 400,000 verified participants have already signed up for the project’s staking & rewards program since its launch on August 6. These users have completed more than 10 million activities, spanning lessons, gameplay, invitations to friends and campaigns run by partner platforms.
The timing is notable. On October 19, the World Gold Council and Boston Consulting Group published Digital Gold: Unlocking a $700-Billion Opportunity, which estimates that as much as US$700 billion of demand for digital gold sits untapped over the long run. The authors treat that figure as potential that could be released if the obstacles to adoption were removed, not as a near-term forecast. According to the World Gold Council’s announcement, the market is worth roughly US$45 billion to US$55 billion today, and the base case has it growing about 27% a year to US$160 – 170 billion by 2031. nGRND also points to Financial Times coverage of the sector’s rapid growth.
nGRND’s key focus is the asset as the center of its story. Rather than tokenizing bullion that has already been mined and vaulted, the project centers on what it calls “Preserved Gold”, meaning verified gold left in place beneath the surface. In a July CCN article, Chair David Lucatch described that gold as sitting in “nature’s vault.” He noted that the quantity and classification of the gold are certified by qualified persons under Canada’s NI 43-101 rules, and that only a small proportion of the gold in a deposit is tokenized.
Additionally, Forbes contributor Boaz Sobrado listed nGRND among four ventures pitched at the Blockchain Futurist Conference in Toronto, in an August article titled “The Real Holy Grail” – The $10 Trillion Push To Tokenize Everything. The company says its dual treasury is backed by verified in-ground gold, alongside income opportunities from alternative land use and measured ESG and SDG impact.
How participation works
Each participant carries a Dynamic Soulbound Token, or DSBT, a non-transferable digital passport that logs their activity. Reward Points accrue across eight participation streams, which cover “Learn, Play, Refer, Advocate, Governance, Impact, Wellbeing and Agent”. Eligible Participants could earn a slice of the Reward Pool, which the company puts at more than US$351,000. The first issuance is slated for the close of Q1 2027, with quarterly issuances planned after that.
How rewards are paid is the design choice most likely to catch a crypto reader’s eye. Instead of minting more of its own token, nGRND intends to settle eligible Rewards in dollar stablecoins like USDC or USDT, with legal and program conditions attached. Its reasoning is that freshly minted reward tokens swell supply and can invite selling. The company stresses that Rewards are not guaranteed.
A growing partner network
Much of the activity runs through partner platforms. GAMEE, Predictfully, Astra Nova and Agoracom are among the communities the project lists as Participation Stream Partners on the nGRND website, and verified Participants can complete qualifying activities on those platforms, where available, using their passports. nGRND says it is courting more Web3 communities to join and bring their own users to the topic of digital gold. Lucatch also discussed staking, rewards and where gold fits in Web3 in a September interview with us.
What comes next
The company says it plans to roll out its NGRND token, designed so that staking more lifts a Participant’s Reward Level, while adding partners and activities, with more details to be announced in the coming weeks. For now, the first 90 days read as a strong start: 400,000 verified participants, more than 10 million completed activities and a partner list that is still lengthening. More information is available at ngrnd.io.