The gold and silver are sourced by Kitco. Transactions are ledgered on the blockchain through our partner Tradewind and their program called VaultChain that digitizes the buying and selling, settlement, & ownership of gold and silver.
The precious metals are stored at the Royal Bank of Canada and guaranteed by the Canadian Government, in the form of bullion (large bars). Clients own the ounces of gold or silver 1:1.
When clients purchase the precious metals, they purchase by the ounce, and they end up owning a portion of the large bars. While the gold is allocated to you, it is not held in its own separate vault. This is how the program creates cost-efficiency.
We do not charge a fee for storing precious metals while the metals are held in your IRA on the iTrustCapital platform. When time for distribution, clients can sell the precious metals from their iTrustCapital dashboard, or they can create a settlement account with Kitco. The settlement account allows clients to convert their gold on VaultChain into gold on Kitco's platform, which will then be shipped to you.