SilverTimes Token (STT)
Review open since 2026-09-30: Open item: silvertimes-stt: 1 source no longer resolves. Ketju last checked the trigger on 2026-10-19. The verdict stands until the review closes.
Summary
Ketju does not approve SilverTimes Token (STT): no legal document says who owes the holder anything, and an enforcer multisig can move any holder’s tokens past the pause and the blocklist. STT is an Ethereum token meant to track one troy ounce of silver. It launched in July 2026, and SilverTimes minted all of it on two days that month. On 2026-09-23, 32,772 STT were outstanding, about $2.1 million. That matches the 1,019.3 kg of silver bars that Brink’s Hong Kong reports holding. The white paper names no issuer. It says the silver sits in an “Orphan Trust” for holders, but it names no trustee, and SilverTimes publishes no deed. A later page says SilverTimes only “intends” to use a trustee. The company’s own reports call STT Assets Limited the issuer. The site carries two versions of the same Brink’s certificate, both dated 15 May 2026 with the same reference. One says Brink’s holds the silver for STT Assets Limited, and the other says Best Power Development Limited.
- SilverTimes publishes a trust deed naming the trustee and the holders as beneficiaries, and binding terms naming the issuer
- Brink’s confirms directly which company holds the silver, or an independent auditor reports on it
- The enforcer multisig force-transfers a balance, or the implementation or admin changes
- Supply rises above the silver in the latest report, or a monthly report is missed
Ketju checks this memo every night. A review opened on 2026-09-30 and appears under the verdict above. The verdict stands until the review closes.
Research
Holder’s rights
The white paper says “the beneficiary ownership of silver belongs to STT token holders” through an orphan trust, and that the silver is owned by “a subsidiary of a TCSP-licensed Trust in Hong Kong.” In an orphan trust, a licensed trust company holds the shares of a vehicle on charitable or purpose trust. No sponsor owns the vehicle, so its assets stay out of the sponsor’s insolvency. The structure protects holders only if the deed exists and names the beneficiaries. SilverTimes publishes neither the deed nor the trust company’s name. Page 19 of the same paper says SilverTimes “intends to use a trustee company structure,” and the About page says SilverTimes tokenizes silver “synthetically.” No document says whether STT is a security.
The custody documents name a different owner. The July transparency report says Brink’s holds the bars “for the exclusive account of STT Assets Limited,” a Hong Kong company the report labels issuer. A holder therefore relies on an unnamed trust that owns a company, and Brink’s treats that company as the owner of the silver. Without the deed, we cannot say whether the holder is a beneficiary or an unsecured creditor of STT Assets Limited.
Custody certificates
The standalone Brink’s holding certificate on silvertimes.io, dated 15 May 2026, reference AG42840, says the consignment “is being held for the account of Best Power Development Limited.” The copies of the same certificate inside the June and July transparency reports read “STT Assets Limited” in that sentence, with small wording changes. Both copies show STT Assets Limited as account holder in the header and carry the same Brink’s stamps. The standalone PDF’s metadata shows it was produced in Microsoft Word on 19 May 2026. We do not know which text Brink’s issued. The custody letter is the only evidence that the silver exists, and its two versions name two different owners.
Withdrawals
Minting requires KYC at designated facilities and, according to the docs, one ton of silver, at a 1% fee. Holders redeem for Good Delivery bars “through designated redemption channels,” at 0.35% plus delivery costs, in 3 to 5 business days, subject to minimums that the documents do not state. The docs say the silver is at Brink’s London, but the custody letters say Brink’s Hong Kong. Holders below the unstated minimum sell on Coinstore or in a Uniswap pool.
Who controls it
STT is an upgradeable proxy, and a 4-of-6 multisig holds its admin role. Beosin audited the implementation, which is verified on Blockscout. A single key runs the blocklist, and another single key runs the pause. A 2-of-3 multisig holds the mint and burn roles. The 4-of-6 enforcer multisig holds `forceTransfer`, which moves any holder’s tokens “that bypass pause and blocklist checks.” A fee manager can set a transfer fee in basis points. The SilverTimes documents tell holders none of this.
Comparison
Compared with a silver ETF, STT has no named issuer in its own offering documents and no trust deed. Its custody letters disagree on the account holder, and an enforcer can take balances. Ketju will review STT again if SilverTimes publishes the trust deed and names the trustee and issuer in binding terms, and Brink’s confirms directly which company holds the account.
Sources
Each claim above comes from one of these sources. Where Ketju could not verify a number, the memo states that.
- SilverTimes Token white paper v9.2 (July 2026) · primary · accessed 2026-09-23
Supports: orphan trust, unnamed trust company, intends to use a trustee, KYC to mint, fees - SilverTimes Transparency Report STT-TR-2026-JUL (issued 20 August 2026) · primary · accessed 2026-09-23
Supports: STT Assets Limited as issuer, silver held for STT Assets Limited - Brink’s Hong Kong holding certificate, 15 May 2026 (standalone PDF) · primary · accessed 2026-09-23
Supports: held for Best Power Development Limited - Beosin: SilverTimes smart contract audit (16 July 2026) · primary · accessed 2026-09-23
Supports: enforcer force transfers, blocklist, pause, upgradeable - SilverTimes docs: FAQ · primary · accessed 2026-09-23
Supports: one ton to mint, Brink’s London
The asset and the chain
This memo covers the protocol. A position also holds an asset and settles on a chain. Whichever of the three holds the most power over the position decides who can freeze it. These tables describe control and do not judge quality.
| Chain | Verdict | Freeze | What it can do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ethereum | Approved | No freeze key | Ethereum has no sequencer, no upgrade key and no operator who can be compelled to act; rule changes require social consensus. |