SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey stated on Friday that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) will not regulate ‘digital gold’ or ‘e-gold’ products, as these fall outside its jurisdiction. Speaking during the National Conclave on REITs and InvITs-2025, Pandey emphasized that investors should seek regulated gold-related investments through exchange-traded funds (ETFs) provided by mutual funds or via other tradable gold securities.
This clarification comes shortly after the digital gold sector requested SEBI to bring digital gold platforms under formal regulatory measures. Earlier in the month, SEBI issued a warning to investors about the risks associated with digital or e-gold products, stating they do not fit within its regulatory framework.
SEBI noted that some online platforms have been marketing ‘digital gold’ or ‘e-gold’ as a convenient substitute for investing in physical gold. The regulator pointed out that these digital gold products differ from SEBI-regulated offerings, as they are neither classified as securities nor treated as commodity derivatives. Consequently, they operate completely outside SEBI’s regulatory oversight.
The statement cautioned that such digital gold products carry considerable risks for investors, including counterparty and operational hazards. SEBI further stated that the investor protection safeguards applicable to regulated securities do not extend to these unregulated digital gold schemes. Instead, investors are advised to gain exposure to gold through SEBI-regulated instruments, such as Gold ETFs, exchange-traded commodity derivative contracts, and Electronic Gold Receipts that can be traded on stock exchanges.
Additionally, investments in these regulated gold products can be executed via registered intermediaries and are governed by SEBI’s regulatory framework.
