South Africa to start trade of world's first gold corporate bond

``"Rather than a bond denominated in rands, it's a bond denominated in Kruger rands, which effectively gives you direct rand-gold exposure," Wood said. He said the offering is the first he's aware of where legal tender gold coins have been sold as part of a corporate bond issue. '' -- This looks like it might be useful, as you have credit risk (but get paid for it) and eliminate exchange risk (relative to other options where you have to convert fiat currency into gold). The question would be whether there is actually exchange risk hidden in the counterparty risk (i.e., if the bank itself never buys the gold up front, or otherwise as the interest is earned).