Goldmoney/Totenpass: Permanent Storage of Precious Digital Data Media Constructed From Solid Gold

This news was published on January 14, 2021.

Goldmoney Inc., a precious metal financial service and technology company, is releasing additional information about its 55% owned subsidiary Totenpass Inc. which has been under confidential development since 2017.

The company founded Totenpass to address a problem that we have identified as of great concern: the risk that the Internet and thus our precious digital information is becoming increasingly centralized.

Totenpass is a Canadian corporation which has been developing a permanent digital storage drive constructed from solid gold that requires no energy and has no movable parts. Digital data is written onto the drive by way of a proprietary light-diffraction process which imprints images, documents, and other files that can be stored as either human readable without the aid of computers or machine-readable with the employ of a smartphone.

This technology allows for the permanent storage of precious digital data, thereby eliminating any future dependence on the Internet and the vast amounts of energy required presently to store content. By consequence, this technology will empower both individuals and corporations to decentralize, preserve and control their precious digital data once and forever.

The company was founded by Roy Sebag, CEO, Goldmoney, Bruce Ha, formerly director of optical media at Kodak, and Alessandro Premoli, CTO, Goldmoney. Goldmoney has made a series of investments in the company since 2017 and currently owns a majority of the outstanding shares. The rest of the shares are held by Ha and other employees. ebag does not own any shares directly but only via his ownership of Goldmoney.

The company has published a 22 page white paper providing further information about the technology.

Statement from Sebag, chairman and CEO:
“Recent geopolitical events have inspired Goldmoney to provide a formal update to our shareholders about Totenpass Inc., a technology business we have been building since 2017. The company founded Totenpass to address a problem that we at Goldmoney have identified as of great concern, perhaps even more so than the risks we have historically focused on relating to the financial system and fiat currency: The risk that the Internet and thus our precious digital information is becoming increasingly centralized.

I considered whether this trend represented not only a major inversion of the general direction in the decentralization of knowledge since the Gutenberg printing press and feel that the person behind the machine is being severed from the control and ownership of their precious data. This centralization reminds me of the kinds of systemic risks I identified within the global financial system leading up to the global financial crisis of 2008. Consequently, we sought to invent a technology that would empower global citizens to regain control over their digital data thereby preserving the precious data which they find meaningful once and forever in a permanent physical form factor.

We hope to be in a position to launch Totenpass in beta before the end of 2021 but it is important to stress that this timeline may change. While the business model is relatively simple – sell physical storage drives via an online e-commerce model -the technology is novel and rather complex with some challenges still remaining ahead of us. While we have successfully designed a working prototype and built out a manufacturing and distribution facility in Rochester, NY by acquiring the former space and equipment occupied by Kodak R&D, there are still some technical milestones which must be met before we are able to launch a comprehensive working model. In part, this was why we have resisted discussing this venture but as I mentioned above, recent events inspired us to accelerate our work and we think shareholders should be made aware of the solution we are working on to what we believe to be a profound problem. It is also important to mention that Totenpass is fully funded through launch and that all capital expenditures thus far have been supported from ongoing cash flows and expensed. Finally, I do not intend to take on the CEO role for this business.”

Statement from Bruce Ha, co-founder, Totenpass:
“Several years ago, I was asked to create one of the most ambitious permanent archives in history, a library for the moon. It would contain 30 million pages of information documenting Earth and humanity. In it were volumes of information including the English Wikipedia and countless stories and photos of humanity’s accomplishments and knowledge.

The media was made from nickel which is impervious to solar radiation as well as being able to withsand the harsh climate of space and the moon. I worked with the space team to develop the payload integration package housing the library and subsequently was on the team working with NASA and Stephen Wolfram on the forensics of the subsequent crash landing.

Although nickel has tremendous preservation characteristics, there is another element that is even better and more permanent, gold. When Sebag approached me with the idea of preserving precious information on this precious metal, I thought it was a perfect match due to its natural properties but as an engineer and scientist I could not quite see how this could be done economically. This was a view I knew most engineers shared and was why as a general rule, gold and other precious metals are eschewed in material science R&D. It was Sebag and his partners unique understanding of the precious metal which allowed us to surmount these challenges which I believe have precluded gold from being the pre-eminent storage material.

Our partnership evolved into the formation of a company and a working prototype of a permanent digital storage drive. With this invention, no information can ever be lost to the ravages of time. We share the same passion and concern for information that is getting exponentially ephemeral. Collectively, we will create a new paradigm that reintroduces permanence and physical control of personal information.

Today most of the world’s knowledge and thus our societal legacy is stored on digital devices that, over a short period of time, will disappear if they are not regenerated or backed up. Digital encryption has gotten so sophisticated that if a chunk of the bitstream is damaged, information is lost forever (assuming a reader is available to retrieve the information in a few decades). Even the cloud is controlled by someone else and is relegated to just bits on spinning discs that will eventually stop functioning and need to be replaced.

Everyone has a story and collectively those stories make history and comprise a legacy for humanity. We find comfort in the stories of our faith, our country, our heroes, our knowledge of math and science, our arts and music, our family, and our passion. The Totenpass technology we have been developing will preserve these most important moments, these memories, and this knowledge once and forever in a physical form factor.”

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About Goldmone
Goldmoney Inc. is a precious metal focused global business. Through its ownership of various operating subsidiaries, the company is engaged in precious metal sales to its clients, including arranging delivery and storage of precious metals for its clients, coin retailing, and lending. Company’s clients located in over 150 countries hold nearly $3 billion in precious metal assets. The company’s operating subsidiaries include: Goldmoney.com, SchiffGold.com and Goldmoney Lend & Borrow. In addition to the firm’s principal business segments, the company holds significant equity interests in Menē Inc., which crafts pure 24-karat gold and platinum investment jewelry that is sold by gram weight and Totenpass Inc. which is developing a permanent digital storage drive constructed of solid gold. Through these businesses and other investment activities, Goldmoney gains long-term exposure to precious metals.