GoldChain

December 2022 – March 2022

My Role: Brand Strategy, UX, Visual Design, User Research

Project Vision

GoldChain is a blockchain-based app developed to ensure transparency and traceability in the gold supply chain, serving suppliers, buyers, and contributors such as miners, auditors, exporters, and importers. The app provides a tamper-proof, auditable record of every transaction, ensuring that gold is ethically sourced, fully compliant with international standards, and conflict-free. Additionally, GoldChain empowers end buyers, including jewelry and bullion purchasers, to verify that the gold they buy is conflict-free and trace its origin.

Challenge: The gold supply chain faces issues like fraud, unethical sourcing, and complex regulatory compliance. Both supply chain participants and end buyers need a transparent, secure way to verify gold’s origin, ensuring it’s conflict-free and ethically sourced.

Solution: GoldChain uses blockchain to create a tamper-proof record of every transaction. With a simple 3-step data entry process, real-time transaction tracking, user verification, and QR code access for end buyers, the platform ensures transparency, compliance, and traceability from mine to market.

Why GoldChain?

In today’s gold market, especially with growing awareness around ethical sourcing, end buyers are increasingly concerned about where their gold comes from. These stakeholders want assurance that the gold they buy is conflict-free, traceable, and fully compliant with international regulations.

While some solutions exist, most do not offer an end-to-end tamper-proof system for verifying gold’s journey from mine to buyer. GoldChain fills this gap by leveraging blockchain technology to create a permanent, tamper-proof ledger that tracks every step in the gold supply chain. It provides transparency and accountability to all participants, ensuring the gold meets ethical and regulatory standards.

User Cases

To better understand the needs of all stakeholders, I conducted interviews with gold exporters, importers, and retailers. These participants, located in various gold-producing regions, provided insights into the challenges of verifying gold’s origin and ensuring that end buyers have confidence in the authenticity and ethical sourcing of their gold.

Initial research revealed that all stakeholders prioritized a secure, transparent system that guarantees the legitimacy of their transactions, while end buyers placed special importance on being able to easily verify the origin of the gold through a QR code.

User Journey

Enter Data → Verify Transaction → Access Public Data

Pain Points

• Fraud: Lack of traceability and transparency can lead to unethical sourcing and fraudulent activities.
• Compliance: Ensuring that gold adheres to international ethical standards and regulations is complex and time-consuming.
• Documentation: Managing and verifying the vast amount of paperwork needed for transparency can overwhelm users.
• Buyer Assurance: Jewelry manufacturers and bullion dealers demand verification that their gold is conflict-free and ethically sourced.

Competitive Audit

	Tracr	Everledger	GoldChain
Blockchain-based	●	●	●
Globally compliant			●
QR code buyer verification			●
Traces gold		●	●

Process Flow

Wireframes

Usability Study Findings

I conducted two rounds of usability testing with both supply chain stakeholders and end buyers.

Round 1:

• Users requested that the app include a detailed transaction history, allowing them to track their previous entries.
• Stakeholders wanted the ability to verify user accounts before allowing them to add data to ensure greater accountability and security.

Round 2:

• End buyers expressed a desire for more visual elements, such as maps and photos, to better understand the origin and journey of the gold they were purchasing.
• Stakeholders emphasized the need for a robust admin dashboard that would allow them to manage users, verify accounts, and monitor activity across the platform more effectively.

Solution

Contributor Prototype

An interactive prototype was created to simulate the Contributor’s experience. The prototype allows users to input extraction data, verify transactions, and upload compliance documents with just a few steps. Check out the Figma prototype below.

Buyer Prototype

An interactive prototype was created to simulate the Buyer’s journey. The prototype enables users to review transaction histories, verify gold provenance, and access compliance records quickly and efficiently. Check out the Figma prototype below.

Branding

The name “GoldChain” was carefully chosen to reinforce the app’s dual focus on gold and blockchain technology. The branding incorporates a gold color palette and an interlocking “GC” logo, mimicking a gold link necklace and symbolizing the secure and continuous chain of trust within the gold supply chain. This visual identity highlights the connection to a “gold chain,” emphasizing both the product and the transparency the blockchain offers.

Takeaways

Developing GoldChain provided an opportunity to address critical issues of transparency and trust in the gold industry. By integrating blockchain technology and a QR code system, I created a solution that not only ensures traceability and compliance but also gives end buyers the ability to easily verify the origin of their gold. This project taught me how to create an intuitive experience that meets the needs of all stakeholders, from miners to end buyers, while driving greater transparency in the gold supply chain.