Loyalty card holders at major retailers and banks will soon have the option to invest their loyalty points in Goldbits, taking them closer to ownership of Krugerrands.
The integration with loyalty programmes is the latest milestone for the fast-growing company, orchestrated by its IT solutions partner, Incasu.
Goldbits is the digital pioneer enabling people to buy Krugerrands in small iterations. The platform, already used by over 15 000 clients, allows users to invest in gold as and when they can afford to. Priced in line with the changing gold price, 1 Goldbit currently costs R407.81 and 100 bits is equal to a 1oz Krugerrand.
Goldbits stores the Krugerrands in vaults, where they are audited monthly by independent auditors. Clients can choose to build their investments over years, withdraw physical Krugerrand coins, or take a cash-out option via the platform. Goldbits also offers a voucher system, in which clients can purchase Goldbits as gifts, or accumulate them as an investment for children. The voucher feature also allows clients to add a personal note to their purchase, which is archived and can be viewed by the recipient for years to come. This is proving to be a popular feature for parents and around 2 000 children currently have their own Goldbits accounts, where they are rewarded for achievements with Goldbits.
Goldbits Director Righard Egen says Goldbits is set to integrate with leading loyalty programmes around August this year, giving millions of loyalty cardholders the option to invest their points in gold. He explains that the latest progress would not have been possible without Incasu, which has taken over responsibility for managing and upgrading the company’s IT infrastructure.
In partnership with Incasu, Goldbits has upgraded its systems and rolled out the integrations necessary for the loyalty card programme.
Incasu Director Matthys Marais explains that Incasu came aboard after a former director, who used to manage IT, left the company. “We made changes on their existing system and are currently revamping it. We are also taking care of the integrations – the most important being their gold price feed and payment interfaces. We also deliver ongoing support to their cloud systems and offer second-level support to any clients who have issues they can’t deal with,” he says.
Marais says while the business model is unique, the Goldbits system is similar to most financial systems, requiring the ability to handle accounts, payments and assets. Goldbits is POPIA and FICA compliant and security is of paramount importance on the platform to safeguard transactions. “It is already very secure, but this is an area we are looking to further improve on,” Marais says.
“In future, we will be looking at enabling extensions of their product list, changes to their UI and some streamlining on the backend where some systems are still manual.”
Egen says: “Our whole business model is dependent on our IT systems, so the departure of the director in charge of IT was a setback. We needed a trusted partner to understand what we’re trying to achieve and come up with solutions. Incasu does this – we feel like they are part of the business. Our growth wouldn’t be possible without their support – they do all the integration and planning.”
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