Glossary

The international trade association representing the London bullion market. LBMA sets standards for gold bar quality (Good Delivery), refinery accreditation, and responsible sourcing. LBMA-accredited facilities meet the highest standards for physical gold custody and handling.

The quality standard for gold bars accepted in the London bullion market. Good Delivery bars must meet specific requirements for weight (350-430 troy oz for large bars), purity (minimum 995.0 fineness), and marking (refiner stamp, serial number, assay, year of manufacture). Helios uses LBMA-accredited kilobars (1 kg, 999.9 fineness) for reserve backing.

The gold-backed digital token issued by Helios Digital on the XRP Ledger. Each HGA token is backed 1:1 by physical gold held in segregated LBMA-accredited vault custody. HGA tokens are redeemable for physical gold or USDC equivalent. The system invariant is: HGA_supply ≤ gold_kg × 1000.

A cryptographic attestation protocol that verifies the backing of issued tokens against physical reserves. Helios PoR operates on a 4-hour cycle: custody snapshot → Merkle tree construction → independent auditor signing → on-chain publication → holder verification. The PoR hash published on XRPL allows any holder to independently verify that the reserve ratio is ≥ 100%.

The single hash at the top of a cryptographic Merkle tree that represents all individual custody records. In Helios PoR, each gold bar's custody record is a leaf node. The Merkle root is published on-chain, allowing any holder to verify their allocation is included in the attested reserve without revealing other holders' data. This enables trustless, privacy-preserving reserve verification.

A financial institution that meets regulatory requirements to hold client assets in segregated custody. For physical gold, this means LBMA-accredited vault facilities with SOC 2 Type II certification, insurance coverage, dual-custody access controls, and regular (at minimum quarterly) physical audits. Helios never holds gold directly — all physical gold is held by a qualified custodian.

A custody arrangement where the client's assets (gold bars) are stored separately from the custodian's own assets and from other clients' assets. In the event of custodian insolvency, segregated assets are not part of the custodian's bankruptcy estate. Helios gold is held in fully segregated allocated storage — each bar is individually identified and assigned to the Helios reserve.

The practice of a custodian or financial institution using a client's deposited assets as collateral for the institution's own borrowing or trading. Helios operates a strict no-rehypothecation policy: gold held in the reserve cannot be lent, pledged, leveraged, or used as collateral by the custodian or by Helios. The gold exists solely to back HGA tokens.

A bilateral credit relationship on the XRP Ledger that allows an account to hold tokens issued by another account. To hold HGA tokens, a user must establish a trustline to the Helios issuing address. Trustlines are a native XRPL feature (not smart contracts) and provide the issuer with the ability to freeze individual lines for compliance purposes.

A decentralized public blockchain designed for fast, low-cost financial transactions. XRPL uses a consensus protocol (not proof-of-work) and has native support for token issuance via trustlines, a built-in decentralized exchange (DEX), and issuer controls including freeze authority. Helios chose XRPL for its institutional-grade settlement finality (~3-5 seconds), regulatory tooling, and energy efficiency.

A settlement model where the outcome is predictable, irreversible, and verifiable on-chain. In Helios: minting HGA requires confirmed vault deposit; burning HGA requires confirmed redemption instruction; no token can exist without corresponding gold. This creates a closed-loop system where the on-chain state deterministically reflects the physical reserve state.

The process of creating (minting) or destroying (burning) HGA tokens. Minting occurs only when new physical gold is deposited and verified in the vault. Burning occurs when a holder redeems tokens for physical gold or USDC. Both operations require 2-of-3 multisig board authorization and vault confirmation. The system enforces the invariant: total HGA supply can never exceed the gram-weight of gold in custody × 1000.

The power to pause all token minting, burning, and transfer operations in an emergency. Any single board member (1-of-3) can invoke a halt. Releasing a halt requires a 2-of-3 board vote and verified remediation. Automatic halts are triggered by: PoR failure > 24h, reserve ratio < 100%, vault breach, regulatory action, or key compromise.

The ratio of physical gold value to outstanding HGA token value. Helios maintains a minimum 100% reserve ratio at all times, verified every 4 hours via PoR attestation. A reserve ratio below 100% triggers an automatic halt of all minting operations until the ratio is restored.

An auditing standard developed by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) that evaluates the design and operating effectiveness of a service organization's controls over a defined period (typically 6-12 months). SOC 2 Type II covers security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy. Helios requires vault operators to maintain current SOC 2 Type II certification.

The OECD framework for responsible mineral sourcing, ensuring gold is not sourced from conflict zones, does not finance armed groups, and is traced from mine to vault. Helios requires all gold in its reserve to comply with OECD due diligence standards for responsible mineral supply chains.