Watch the video of this interview on Gamma Prime’s YouTube channel:
Interview with Emanuel Stadler ( COO at GemX ) and Korath Wright (Director of Capital Markets at Gamma Prime)
Emanuel Stadler (COO at GemX):
My name is Manuel, I’m the COO of GemX. We’re based in Switzerland. We’re basically an RWA protocol that tokenizes emeralds. We work with a global family office that has considerable mining operations in Brazil and controls the full value chain. This allows us not only to tokenize finalized cut and polished emeralds, but also to build a yield product on top of that, giving investors participation in the value creation from rough emeralds to finalized cut and polished ones. This provides a guaranteed fixed interest of 15% per year, on top of the natural value appreciation of 6–13% that emeralds typically yield.
Korath Wright (Director of Capital Markets at Gamma Prime):
Okay, okay. And so this is the type of asset that people traditionally wouldn’t have had access to?
Emanuel Stadler:
Yeah, traditionally, you’d say these types of assets are for experts — family offices that have built considerable expertise in this sector. They have access to the mines, gemologists, laboratories, trading desks, and even the cutting and polishing centers. But we’re really enabling standardization on top of the emerald. We’re not saying we’re creating liquidity through the token — the liquidity already exists, because this is an ecosystem built over 30 years. There are already TradFi funds in this ecosystem, out of Germany and Jersey, doing similar things. We’re basically enabling this for a whole new investor class and creating a new asset class for crypto and blockchain.
Korath Wright:
Okay, okay. So would I come to you if I want to get some emeralds, or if I want to get the return on the process of developing emeralds?
Emanuel Stadler:
Both, both. The token we have — the MGMX Switzerland token — gives you exposure to the cut and polished emeralds. You are a co-owner of the full portfolio of emeralds, and you’re also able to redeem them. With the tokens, you can go to the custodian in Switzerland, or soon in Dubai and Singapore, and actually withdraw the physical emeralds from the vault. You can also participate in the yield product that pays out 50% in U.S. dollars and 50% in token, with the 15% annual interest component.
Korath Wright:
Okay, okay. So it’s not an either-or — it’s an “and.”
Emanuel Stadler:
It’s an “and,” yeah.
Korath Wright:
Okay, perfect. And what do you think of the event so far today?
Emanuel Stadler:
It’s an amazing event. It exceeded all my expectations. It’s really cool. We have over 4,000 people here, I understand. We just did our keynote, which was very well received. I’ll be doing a panel very soon — very exciting. The speaker lounge is great; I’ve been talking to a lot of really good people. I expect this to be one of the best, if not the best, side events here in Singapore.
Korath Wright:
Amazing. Amazing. Well, thank you. We’re honored to have you as part of it, and we’re really looking forward to the future. So where do you see things going in the RWA space moving forward?
Emanuel Stadler:
I think we’re really seeing maturation. A lot of people now understand that you need a real use case and you need to provide value to the investor — not just tokenize any asset for the sake of tokenizing. You need a sound use case behind it. And that’s where we’re going. I like that we’re becoming more realistic with the numbers. We haven’t reached the $19 trillion mark that some were speculating on, but we’re seeing solid growth and many projects moving on-chain. And we’re seeing institutional interest — what BlackRock is doing, what JP Morgan is doing. This makes me very bullish on the sector. The hype is being replaced by realism — but a very optimistic realism.
Korath Wright:
Right. Well, it’s hard to get more real than gems and diamonds.
Emanuel Stadler:
Exactly. That’s what we’re based on. And I love the idea of having a stablecoin not backed by paper currency that has lost value, but by something tangible that appreciates every year.
Korath Wright:
Amazing. Amazing. We appreciate having you here and working with us at GemX. We look forward to seeing where things go in the future.
Emanuel Stadler:
Thank you very much. I hope we’ll be able to do many more of these events in the future.
Korath Wright:
Absolutely.
