XAU GoldMoney Inc

Goldmoney Inc. (TSX:XAU) (“Goldmoney”) (the “Company”), a gold based financial service and technology company, today announced that following several months of negotiations and planning, founders Roy Sebag and Josh Crumb have signed a non-binding Letter of Intent (“LOI”) in Zhauyuan, Shandong Province, China at the headquarters of Zhaojin Mining (HK:1818), formalizing a joint venture (“JV”) framework whereby Goldmoney, Taojinyn, and Zhaojin will together jointly launch and operate a local version of Goldmoney in mainland China which will be named Goldmoney® China.

The framework agreement outlined in the LOI follows an extensive period of analysis of the local market by Goldmoney, leading to the architecture of a local version of Goldmoney which will comply with all local rules and regulations for the ownership of gold and precious metals, while introducing the Goldmoney® brand, software innovation and intellectual property, and thought leadership through Goldmoney Insights® to the world’s largest precious metals market. A definitive agreement and official founding of the JV is expected to close by the end of the year. 

While further details will be provided at or near the official launch date, which is presently scheduled for February 2018, the Goldmoney® China framework agreement calls for the local Goldmoney business to be operated by a 20 person team in a new office in Beijing’s Chao Yang Technology district adjacent to the Taojinyn offices. Taojinyn, which is China’s first digital gold service, and its founder Yuming Zhao will run the operation and will own a 51% share of the Joint Venture. Zhaojin Mining is Taojinyn’s largest shareholder.

The relationship between the JV and Goldmoney Inc. will be similar to that of a localization affiliate, with the JV providing localized marketing and internet-based customer acquisition, client onboarding, and servicing of Chinese clients of the Goldmoney Holding while earning a 50% revenue share for the lifetime of each client. Goldmoney Inc. will operate all payment processing, redemptions, precious metals dealing and vaulting, and managing the continuous development of intellectual property and expertise at the Company’s centralized operation offices in Toronto, Canada and St. Helier, Jersey.

The primary function of the JV will be to maintain a local version of the Goldmoney website and mobile-app, translated to Chinese with fully localized customer service and marketing operations. Other key features of the Joint Venture agreement include:

• Localized Version of Goldmoney® will be launched in Chinese, with local compliance, customer support, funding Options, and marketing team to be run by a 20-person team in Beijing.
• Goldmoney® China Clients will be able to buy and sell physical allocated precious metals priced in RMB stored in vaults in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
• Goldmoney® China clients will be able to make and receive instant precious metal payments within the Hong Kong and Shanghai vaults.
• Goldmoney China to establish physical branch strategy in Mainland China starting with Beijing and Shanghai funded by a $1 million investment from Goldmoney Inc.
• Goldmoney China will establish new Credit Card relationships with local card issuers UnionPay to issue local RMB versions of the Goldmoney Metal and Plastic Card.
• Goldmoney® China clients will only be permitted to deposit and hold RMB as a base currency.
• Goldmoney® China clients will be able to receive an incoming gold payment at any vault from any Goldmoney® Clients, which will be swapped and managed to meet local regulatory requirements.
• Precious metals will be purchased from Zhaojin Mining for Shanghai Vault via the Shanghai Exchange
• JV owned 51% by Taojinyn (Gold R&D Investment Beijing Co. Ltd.) and 49% by Goldmoney Inc.
• The Goldmoney China web-app will be operating on the same global Goldmoney system of vaults and customers offering p2p transfers from any Goldmoney Client to and from any Goldmoney China client.
• Goldmoney China will Produce Research and Content for Goldmoney Insights in Chinese.

“I have great admiration and respect for China; its people, its culture of excellence, and its deep-rooted passion for gold,” said Roy Sebag, Goldmoney CEO. “For two years, we have reflected on what we needed to see in order to launch and expand our service in this important market. Of all the Chinese joint venture business cases I have studied, the most successful have been those where a local partner manages the client-facing operation while the parent company establishes the standards and expertise from a centralized location. We are excited to be partnering with a strong group that is also a State-Owned Enterprise providing us with the regulatory confidence to invest our capital and build real connections,” continued Sebag. “I have personally had prior success investing in Chinese internet ventures and have seen first-hand how quickly these operations can scale when they are well-intended. I can now confidently say that we are for the first time launching correctly in China with a well-intended and long-term vision. I believe that if we are successful, within a few years Goldmoney® China may be bigger than all the rest of our operations combined.”

“From Beijing to Toronto, and from Timmins, Ontario to Zhauyuan, Shandong Province, gold endures as not only the most important wealth-preserving asset accumulated by a newly upward-mobile class, but as an important foundational industry supporting millions of economic livelihoods globally. However, new generations are accessing this asset in different ways, with the global ‘fintech’ tsunami being realized in China perhaps even more rapidly than anywhere else,” said Josh Crumb, Goldmoney CFO. “We were excited and humbled to learn how closely our vison is shared by Zhaojin Mining, and by Taojinyn with its entrepreneurial-leader Yuming Zhang. Together, this formidable partnership will move prudently and expeditiously to establish a market leader in real-time, digitally-accessible gold savings and payments.”          

“We are ready to commit substantial resources to support Goldmoney's business development in China,”  stated Yuming Zhang, adding, “Zhaojin Mining has identified ‘FinTech gold’ as the most important trend for the future of gold demand. We also share the Goldmoney vision for broadening access to gold among the growing middle class, while giving it new velocity and utility in internet commerce.”

About Goldmoney Inc.

Goldmoney Inc., a financial service company traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:XAU), is a global leader in precious metal investment services and the world’s largest precious metals payment network. Safeguarding nearly $2 billion in assets for clients located in more than 150 countries, Goldmoney is focused on a singular mission to make precious metals-backed savings accessible to all. Powered by Goldmoney’s patented technology, the Goldmoney® Holding is an online account that enables clients to invest, earn, or spend gold, silver, platinum, palladium and cryptocurrencies that are securely stored in insured vaults in seven countries. All bullion assets are fully allocated and physically redeemable property. Goldmoney Wealth Limited is regulated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC) as a Money Services Business. Goldmoney Network is a reporting entity to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), and is registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) in the U.S. For more information about Goldmoney, visit goldmoney.com.

Media and Investor Relations Inquiries:

Jacquelyn Humphrey Director of Global Communications Goldmoney Inc. jac@goldmoney.com

Josh Crumb Chief Strategy Officer & CFO Goldmoney Inc. +1 647-499-6748

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains or refers to certain forward-looking information. Forward-looking information can often be identified by forward-looking words such as “anticipate”, “believe”, “expect”, “plan”, “intend”, “estimate”, “may”, “potential” and “will” or similar words suggesting future outcomes, or other expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions, intentions or statements about future events or performance. All information other than information regarding historical fact, which addresses activities, events or developments that the Goldmoney Inc. (the “Company”) believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, is forward looking information. Forward-looking information does not constitute historical fact but reflects the current expectations the Company regarding future results or events based on information that is currently available. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, that contribute to the possibility that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking information will not occur. Such forward-looking information in this release speak only as of the date hereof.

Forward-looking information in this release includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to: the ability to enter into a definitive Zhaojin Mining Joint Venture agreement on the terms as provided in the non-binding Letter of Intent  or at all, the ability to successfully operate in the jurisdiction and the economic success of any joint venture; service times for transactions on the Goldmoney network; growth of the Company’s business, expected results of operations, and the market for the Company’s products and services and competitive conditions. This forward-looking information is based on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management of the Company at the time it was made, and involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors include, among others:  the inability to enter in a definitive Zhaojin Mining Joint Venture agreement on the terms as provided in the non-binding Letter of Intent  or at all, and the inability to commercially operate in the jurisdiction or to develop an economically  successful  joint venture if such operations proceed; the Company’s operating history; history of operating losses; future capital needs and uncertainty of additional financing; fluctuations in the market price of the Company’s common shares; the effect of government regulation and compliance on the Company and the industry; legal and regulatory change and uncertainty; jurisdictional factors associated with international operations; foreign restrictions on the Company’s operations; product development and rapid technological change; dependence on technical infrastructure; protection of intellectual property; use and storage of personal information and compliance with privacy laws; network security risks; risk of system failure or inadequacy; the Company’s ability to manage rapid growth; competition; effectiveness of the Company’s risk management and internal controls; use of the Company’s services for improper or illegal purposes; uninsured and underinsured losses; theft & risk of physical harm to personnel; precious metal trading risks; and volatility of precious metals prices & public interest in precious metals investment; and those risks set out in the Company’s most recently filed annual information form, available on SEDAR. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, except as required by law.