''Gold to Go'' is a product brand made by the TG Gold-Super-Markt corporation designed to dispense items made of pure

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

from automated banking vending machines. The first gold-plated vending machine was located in the lobby of the

Emirates Palace The Emirates Palace (Arabic: قصر الإمارات) is a luxury five star hotel in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It has been operated by Mandarin Oriental as of 1 January 2020. The hotel project was launched in December 2001 and was initi ...

hotel in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

, dispensed 320 items made of gold, including 10-gram

gold bar A gold bar, also called gold bullion or gold ingot, is a quantity of refined metallic gold of any shape that is made by a bar producer meeting standard conditions of manufacture, labeling, and record keeping. Larger gold bars that are produced ...

s and customized

gold coin A gold coin is a coin that is made mostly or entirely of gold. Most gold coins minted since 1800 are 90–92% gold (22karat), while most of today's gold bullion coins are pure gold, such as the Britannia, Canadian Maple Leaf, and American Buffa ...

s. There are currently six vending machines installed across Europe and Peru. The first vending machine in the United States was installed in

Boca Raton, Florida Boca Raton ( ; es, Boca Ratón, link=no, ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. The population was 97,422 in the ...

in December 2010. The "

ATMs" are designed to be placed in shopping malls and airports and are meant to make ordinary people comfortable with the idea of investing in gold. The vending machines update their prices to

market value Market value or OMV (Open Market Valuation) is the price at which an asset would trade in a competitive auction setting. Market value is often used interchangeably with ''open market value'', ''fair value'' or ''fair market value'', although the ...

every minute over an encrypted internet connection.

History

The concept was developed by Thomas Geissler, who has previously created an online platform for trading precious metals. He stated that his initial inspiration was observing the "seemingly endless" line of traditional toiletries vending machines at airports and train stations, and during his search for advertising models for an online marketplace. The initial prototype system was installed in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

in 2009, where it dispensed 1-

gram The gram (originally gramme; SI unit symbol g) is a Physical unit, unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one one thousandth of a kilogram. Originally defined as of 1795 as "the absolute weight of a volume of pure wate ...

pieces of gold at a 30% premium above market price.

Machines

The vending machines are covered in

gold leaf Gold leaf is gold that has been hammered into thin sheets (usually around 0.1 µm thick) by goldbeating and is often used for gilding. Gold leaf is available in a wide variety of karats and shades. The most commonly used gold is 22-kara ...

, and include a

touch screen A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is often ...

, cash and

credit card A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the o ...

slots, and a lighted display showcase. Users must scan identification for purchases exceeding the

money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...

limit within a given time. The machines are fitted "like an

armored vehicle Military vehicles are commonly armoured (or armored; see spelling differences) to withstand the impact of shrapnel, bullets, shells, rockets, and missiles, protecting the personnel inside from enemy fire. Such vehicles include armoured fighting ...

" and tested with explosives to prevent theft, and include surveillance cameras that record all transactions.

Special Features of Gold ATM

* It has a state-of-the-art ID scanner with AssureTech validation, which determines quality and value and creates an offer within minutes. * It monitors real-time prices and gives instant cash for gold, silver, and cryptocurrency. * It captures and authenticates the user by examining the ID hologram. * A Video Teller Agent examines each customer in real-time and helps. * In the case of a technical issue, a video call will be automatically made to customer support.

Sale items

Gold bar A gold bar, also called gold bullion or gold ingot, is a quantity of refined metallic gold of any shape that is made by a bar producer meeting standard conditions of manufacture, labeling, and record keeping. Larger gold bars that are produced ...

s made of 24- carat gold are sold in 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 250

and 1 oz sizes. Other items for sale include gift boxes of

s with symbols such as the

Krugerrand The Krugerrand (; ) is a South African coin, first minted on 3 July 1967 to help market South African gold and produced by Rand Refinery and the South African Mint. The name is a compound of ''Paul Kruger'', the former President of the South Af ...

, a

maple leaf The maple leaf is the characteristic leaf of the maple tree. It is the most widely recognized national symbol of Canada. History of use in Canada By the early 1700s, the maple leaf had been adopted as an emblem by the French Canadians along the ...

, or a

kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

, and are dispensed in "handsome" boxes. Each gold bar is sealed in plastic with an anti-counterfeit hologram label, and comes with a description of its purity and price per gram, as well as information about the sale and the company's 10-day return policy.

Distribution

The German corporation planned to distribute 500 "gold ATMs" throughout airports and rail stations in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. In the meanwhile the company FONDS-Zentrum Nürnberg in Nuremberg Germany bought the assets of the Gold ATMs to distribute the Gold vending machines to private companies or persons.

References

{{reflist

External links

Gold ATM KIOSK
Vending machines Gold investments Commercial machines