A provenance database the public cannot read.

Gold Bar Integrity is the LBMA-WGC infrastructure programme for bar provenance: a distributed-ledger database live since January 2025 on aXedras, with country-of-origin reporting voluntary from April 2026 and mandatory in 2027. It is industry-confidential, not a public registry.

Visit the GBI ecosystem page

Proving where a bar came from, inside the industry.

The Gold Bar Integrity programme is the London market’s answer to a blunt question: can anyone prove where a given bar came from? Run jointly by the LBMA and the World Gold Council, its centrepiece is a bar-provenance database built on aXedras distributed-ledger technology, live since January 2025.

The LBMA’s own claim is that 100% of Good Delivery refiners were using the database by the start of 2026; the claim’s scope is the upload of assurance deliverables. AAP submissions run from March 2026. Country-of-origin reporting is voluntary monthly from April 2026, extends to custodians by December 2026, and becomes mandatory monthly in 2027.

One boundary defines the whole programme: the database is industry-confidential. It is not a public registry, and the public fragments of refiner accountability (the RMI conformant list, the Good Delivery List, the LBMA’s aggregate country-of-origin data) live in incompatible formats elsewhere. Joining those fragments is the job of this hub’s refiners section.

The integrity stack

Database, security features, bar passports.

GBI database (aXedras)The central provenance ledger: aXedras appointed March 2024, live January 2025, built on R3 Corda. Industry-confidential.

Optical fingerprinting (Alitheon)Markless bar identity from surface micro-features. Selected by the LBMA for GBI in February 2023, deployed with Argor-Heraeus in 2023.

Security marking (SICPA BullionProtect)High-security ink plus QR, an LBMA-recognised bar security feature, developed with Metalor; 400,000+ kilobars marked (vendor figure, undated).

Bar passports and traceable linesRefiner-level products that travel with the metal: MKS PAMP Provenance (QR-engraved cast bars from 1 January 2025), Argor-Heraeus Small Craft and Origin Traced (launched 20 May 2025), and aXedras xTrace, used for the December 2025 Soleil Metals to Argor-Heraeus fully traceable deliveries.

Who sees the dataRefiners and, progressively, custodians (by December 2026). Not the public.

Milestones

From pilots to mandates.

2022
GBI pilots run; Peer Ledger is among the pilot vendors (not later selected for the database).
2023
Alitheon’s optical fingerprinting is selected for GBI in February and deployed with Argor-Heraeus.
2024
aXedras is appointed as the database provider in March.
2025
The GBI database goes live in January; aXedras becomes an LBMA affiliate in February.
2026
AAP submissions start in March; voluntary monthly country-of-origin reporting starts in April; custodians join by December.
2027
Monthly country-of-origin reporting becomes mandatory.

Status

Live, ramping, and closed by design.

The programme is live and its mandates are dated: voluntary country-of-origin reporting began in April 2026, custodians join by December 2026, and monthly reporting becomes mandatory in 2027. The 100% onboarding figure is the LBMA’s own, with a limited scope (uploading assurance deliverables), and this hub tags it accordingly.

What GBI does not do is public accountability: the data stays inside the industry. Readers looking for what is public should start from the refiner registers this hub joins: the RMI conformant list, the gold Good Delivery List and the LBMA’s aggregate country-of-origin disclosures.