The Gold DAO development team would like to clarify and correct several points raised in his recent relation video, closer to racqueting techniques than professional motivations, his claims contain factual inaccuracies and misleading information with the intention to hurt.
1. Did the Dev Team Pay Themselves Millions in ICP?
No. Since the SNS launch, the Gold DAO dev team has submitted only one team funding proposal, which was transparently detailed in the SNS documentation. That proposal withdrew 156’746 ICP, broken down as follows:
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56’746 ICP was used to support the initial development of GLDT, the core product of Gold DAO. Not millions as he portrayed.
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100’000 ICP was allocated to save the WTN DAO in June 2024, Leo and Enzo met one member of our team in Geneva after one unsuccessful week, without our help the SNS wasn’t passing. We have not only secured 100’000 ICP but we also have brought our communication team to make videos and help them on the marketing side. In exchange for our help they are actively participating in the Gold Stable coin coding and other fruitful collaboration.
70% of the raised funds, ~550k ICP were locked up in NNS neurons and are serving the DAO’s mission (read more here).
Since July 2024, the dev team has been self-funding all further development and operations. Additionally, this doesn’t include the costs of developing the GLD NFT infrastructure in 2023, which was fully funded by the team and predates the Gold DAO scope. This part, we name it phase one, and as explained many times, has to be fully kyc/aml. However the full process described in Jerry videos and his understanding is wrong.
2. Why Was Jerry’s Video Proposal Rejected?
We value community content creators and actively encourage proposals. That’s why we collaborated with Jerry on two previous video initiatives:
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A paid interview (paid by dev team), which we appreciated.
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A video produced as part of a community-funded proposal.
However, unfortunately, both videos have been deleted by Jerry now, which leads to some of our concern on this paid content, as the content creator could delete it anytime, and we have no control.
The latest proposal requesting 234,567 GOLDAO tokens for 11 videos was substantial, especially as an ongoing collaboration. We felt it was better to start with a smaller scope, but Jerry didn’t agree with the approach.
Additionally, we communicated with Jerry that we would be happy to revisit the partnership closer to the launch of GLDT staking and the new web app.
To be clear: Gold DAO supports quality content creation and looks forward to working with creators in a way that aligns with our product roadmap and community interests.
3. “Gold DAO Hasn’t Spent GOLDAO Tokens, So There’s No Marketing Effort?”
This is not true. While we’ve been cautious about withdrawing GOLDAO tokens from the treasury—especially for airdrops—marketing has been ongoing:
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The dev team has funded marketing using dev’s own cash, ICP and GOLDAO token. eg. the GLD NFT airdrop we did during NFT NFC in 2024. Hiring of social media managers and ambassadors, etc…
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Marketing includes branding, strategic partnerships, community engagement, and not just token giveaways or KOL sponsorship. But we are also timing our actions for strategic and technical reasons.
We recognize the importance of KOLs and influencers, but we are being responsible stewards of the treasury to protect the long-term value of GOLDAO for all holders.
4. About GLDT and Its Adoption
GLDT is Gold DAO’s flagship product, and the foundation of our ecosystem. Each GLDT token is backed by a physical gold bar, represented by a GLD NFT.
GLDT is not a meme coin—it is a serious, real-world asset (RWA) token, engineered for trust and stability.
Upon its launch in November 2024, we chose a “soft launch” strategy. For the first few months, we focused on:
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Testing the price stability mechanism on DEXs.
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Ensuring GLDT’s peg to gold via the GLD NFT, without relying on oracles.
This approach helped us confirm that the pricing mechanism functions effectively and within a narrow range—critical for adoption and long-term trust.
We’re pleased with our tests which have been successful, and we are now entering the growth phase.
GLDT Adoption Strategy
While GLDT is still early in adoption, we are focused on improving:
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Liquidity and TVL on DEXs, in fact, GLDT has one of the largest TVL of any tokens on ICP (currently 350kUSD on ICPSwap and 250kUSD on KongSwap) with all of it being real physical gold (not meme coins which can be easily pumped)
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Launching GLDT staking (GLDT Staking: A Detailed Overview | by Gold DAO | Mar, 2025 | Medium)
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Releasing a new user-friendly web app
We believe liquidity is key for adoption—GLDT has many similarities to a stablecoin, and our roadmap reflects that priority.
5. Why Is the GLD NFT Sold via Bity Instead of On-Chain?
GLD NFTs are not ordinary NFTs. They represent legal ownership of real, insured gold bars stored in Switzerland.
Because gold is a regulated market, KYC (Know Your Customer) is required by law. This is why the NFTs are sold through Bity, a regulated broker, to ensure:
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Compliance with Swiss law.
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Investor protection.
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Trust and transparency in asset ownership.
6. Who Is Bity?
Bity is a Swiss crypto broker, founded in 2014, with over:
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120,000 clients
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10 years of regulatory-compliant service
While Bity may be less known within the ICP ecosystem, it is a respected player in the Swiss crypto space.
Bity Wallet is also the first mobile wallet to integrate ICP natively, allowing users to buy/sell ICP with fiat and self-custody assets in one seamless experience.
Our collaboration with Bity brings regulatory strength and expands ICP’s real-world adoption.
7. “GLD NFTs Aren’t Decentralized?”
That’s correct—and it’s by design.
GLD NFTs are tokenized real-world assets (RWA), which naturally require:
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Legal entities to issue and back the assets.
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Audited production, insured storage, and compliant custody.
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A regulated platform for buying and selling, to protect investors.
The GLDT token ecosystem is fully decentralized and on-chain, but the NFT layer must adhere to real-world legal frameworks to maintain trust and legitimacy. Here Jerry is completely confused.
Finally, we just want to speak from the heart.
Building a real project around gold tokenization isn’t easy. It’s a long road, and we know some people are wondering why it’s taken time to get here. The truth is, we’ve been cautious, intentional, and fully committed every step of the way.
This isn’t a meme coin where, if it fails, the team disappears and launches something new the next day. We’re not anonymous. We’re here, building in the open, fully accountable. And that means we have to do things the right way, not the fast way.
We’ve had to navigate regulations, deal with audits, build trusted partnerships, and make sure that every layer of the project, from the gold bars in the vault to the tokens on-chain, stands up to scrutiny.
And honestly? We’re proud of what we’ve built.
There are other gold token projects out there, but none quite like Gold DAO. The level of transparency, trust, and care we’ve put into this project is what makes it special.
We’re still early, and there’s more to do. But we’re here for the long run and we’re building something that lasts.
Also, we don’t appreciate vague statements about Gold DAO’s involvement with recent events around Yuku which we stated quite clearly in this forum post. If there are further precise questions, those should be phrased so they can be addressed.
Last but not least Jerry attacks one of our main partners: ORIGYN, here again his statements are false and ORIGYN has not only us as use cases. We are sad to see Jerry’s immature reaction and spreading unnecessary fud, but we do think that our community is very smart and can separate the true from the false.
