ORO

ORO is a yield-bearing tokenized gold protocol on Solana. Each $GOLD token is backed 1:1 by one troy ounce of LBMA and UAE GD-certified physical gold held in insured, regulated vaults, and holders can earn 3–5% annual yield by lending their gold into institutional leasing markets — the same mechanism that underpins traditional gold lease rates.

How It Works

Users mint $GOLD by depositing USDC on Solana after completing KYC/KYB verification through Sumsub. Minting fees are 0.50% during business hours (Monday–Friday, 9am–5pm CET) and 1.00% outside those windows. Once minted, $GOLD is a standard Solana SPL token that transfers freely between wallets without restriction, while primary minting and redemption operations are gated to verified addresses to satisfy compliance requirements.

Pricing uses Pyth Network and Switchboard oracles to maintain accurate gold spot pricing onchain at all times.

Staking allocates $GOLD holdings to institutional gold leasing arrangements. Licensed brokers facilitate short-term leases to refiners, jewelry manufacturers, and bullion traders, who pay gold-denominated lease fees. Those fees flow back to stakers as monthly $GOLD distributions, targeting 3–5% APY. The current staking product uses a 12-month lock-up period; shorter-duration options are in development. Legal title to the leased gold remains with the staker throughout; leased assets are insured and legally ring-fenced from lessee insolvency.

Key Products and Features

$GOLD Token — The core SPL asset, pegged to one troy ounce of physical gold, freely tradable on secondary markets including [[PROJECT:219]] (Jupiter) and launched on [[PROJECT:241]] (Meteora) vaults in September 2025. Secondary trading continues around the clock even when primary minting and redemption pause on weekends.

Staking and Yield — Monthly yield distributions in additional $GOLD, sourced exclusively from transparent institutional leasing markets at 3–5% APY.

Redemption — Three exit paths: burn $GOLD to receive USDC at live market rates (settling within 48 hours, 0.50%–1.00% fee); vault-to-vault transfer for institutions moving allocated gold to external approved facilities; or physical delivery in multiple bar formats (10-gram, 1-kilogram, and others) within 3–7 business days, with in-person pickup available in the UAE and international physical delivery incurring logistics and insurance premiums.

GRAIL Developer Infrastructure — APIs, SDKs, and smart contracts allowing fintech applications to embed gold-backed products. GRAIL supports both custody-led models and self-custody flows for wallet applications.

Social-Login Onboarding — Wallet creation via email, X (Twitter), Google, or GitHub removes cold-wallet friction for new users.

Security and Audits

Smart contracts have been audited by Cantina and Adevar Labs, with reports available through ORO's transparency portal. Physical reserves are verified quarterly by RSM International, which publishes independent attestations confirming the 1:1 ratio between onchain $GOLD supply and vaulted gold. Vault operators are licensed, fully insured against theft and damage, and subject to third-party physical inspection and gold purity testing.

The ORO Foundation holds legal title to all vaulted gold as a separate legal entity, creating bankruptcy remoteness that shields customer assets from platform operational liabilities — an architecture similar to that used by regulated stablecoin issuers. Admin functions on smart contracts are protected through multisig and governance mechanisms.

Team and Funding

ORO was co-founded by Usman Saleem and Juan Marchetto. Saleem previously served as Vice President at NatWest Corporates and Institutions, bringing traditional precious-metals finance experience to the project.

In March 2025, ORO Labs closed a $1.5 million pre-seed round led by 468 Capital, with participation from Fasset and Dead King Ventures, plus angel investors from Phantom, Jupiter, Helium, Squads, Sanctum, Anza Labs, Perena, Bonk, and Forma — a consortium drawn largely from established Solana protocol teams. 468 Capital described the round as backing "a gold-backed financial asset with real utility, unlocking opportunities for crypto and traditional investors alike."

ORO also signed an MOU with Fasset, a regulated financial infrastructure operator, to drive retail and institutional tokenized gold adoption across the UAE, Malaysia, Bahrain, Indonesia, and Turkey. The company was founded in December 2024 and launched its Meteora vaults in September 2025.

By July 2026, Meteora noted that ORO had achieved 58% holder growth across 2026, citing it as one of the fastest-growing RWA platforms on Solana that year.

Solana Ecosystem Fit

ORO is a real-world asset (RWA) protocol targeting the intersection of precious metals and decentralized finance. Gold is the oldest store-of-value asset class globally, and ORO's thesis is that putting it onchain with Solana's speed and low transaction costs unlocks genuine utility: earning yield on an asset class that has historically sat idle, borrowing USDC against gold collateral without selling, and trading it with instant settlement through existing Solana DEX infrastructure.

The protocol integrates with Solana's broader RWA expansion — alongside protocols focused on equities, agriculture, and energy — and extends that ecosystem into the MENA region through the Fasset partnership. Its GRAIL developer layer also positions ORO as infrastructure other Solana applications can build gold-backed features on top of, rather than purely a consumer product.