300 Days of Silence: How Delayed Gold Platform Licenses Distorted the Market

Ten months have passed since the halt of issuing licenses for gold sales platforms. The halt was supposed to last only 50 days but has extended to 300 days. During this period, 18-carat gold has risen from approximately 6 million tomans to nearly 14 million tomans. The status of online gold sales platforms and new licenses remains unclear. It may be time for the Central Bank to stop opposing technology instead of missing opportunities.

Central Bank's Lack of Response

The issue dates back to February 10, 2024. On this day, the Board of Deregulation and Facilitation of Business Licenses in the Ministry of Economy required the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade to establish an online trading system for gold bullion and jewelry within 50 days.

While the license issuance for online gold platforms was supposed to be stopped only for these 50 days, there is still no news of the system or the resumption of licenses after more than 300 days. In such a situation, it is expected from the Director General of the Central Bank's Currency Market Monitoring to respond to the media as the direct responsible authority, but the contact from Digiato went unanswered.

Violation of Regulation

The last official action regarding these platforms dates back to November 5, when the Cabinet approved the regulations for the activity of online gold buying and selling platforms. From the beginning of December, the Central Bank was given a three-month period to define the rules for these platforms.

This means that economic activists are deprived of launching platforms and operating in this field for more than a year. According to clauses 2 and 4 of Article 7 of the law on the amendment of Article 44 policies, stopping the issuance of licenses should only be done for a limited time to amend the regulations. Now that 10 months have passed, this delay and halt actually violate the law and harm individuals.

Economic Impact of Rising Gold Prices

The Central Bank stands against issuing licenses for online gold platforms, while at the time of deciding to halt license issuance, 18-carat gold was trading around 6.3 million tomans. However, during this period it has surpassed 13.5 million tomans, and analysts emphasize its continued rise.

This means that during the time when economic activists and a series of platforms were waiting for the Ministry of Economy's promise to issue licenses, the price of gold, as the product offered by them, increased by about 110 percent. Now, which authority will compensate for their losses?

On the other hand, the emergence of these platforms as competitors to the traditional market somewhat helped balance the market and adjust the fees and charges that have become a lever for price increases. In this context, it should be asked who opposes the reduction of sometimes astronomical fees and charges?

It should not be forgotten that given the inflationary conditions, many citizens object to gold pricing and received fees and show more interest in trading bullion gold without profit from an investment perspective.

Monopolies and Market Barriers

Online gold sales activists, many of whom have invested for years, today remain behind the closed doors of the Central Bank and ministries with unclear decisions. None of them know how to proceed, what future awaits them, or even how to obtain a license despite accepting conditions.

Currently, the Central Bank resists issuing licenses under excuses like short selling, while many applicants for the online gold platform license have accepted the condition of guaranteeing physical gold delivery and providing backing for it, but have still not succeeded in obtaining a license for unknown reasons.

Now, to maintain the health of the digital economy and support the rights of activists, it is essential that the Central Bank promptly ends this crisis with fair licensing, process transparency, and prevention of monopolies.