STRATO Gold and Silver (GOLDST, SILVST)

Summary

Ketju does not approve STRATO Gold and Silver: the terms contradict themselves on custody and on the GOLDST unit, the last vault letter confirms less silver than the tokens outstanding, and the token owner can burn any holder’s balance. GOLDST and SILVST are gold and silver tokens on STRATO, BlockApps’ chain, with lock-and-mint copies on Ethereum. BA Gold Enterprises holds the metal on West 47th Street in New York. On 2026-09-23 there were 6,025 GOLDST and 59,790 SILVST on STRATO, and a few dozen tokens on Ethereum. The terms give holders title to and beneficial ownership of the metal under a bailment, the strongest kind of claim. The same terms call the metal both “allocated, not segregated” and “held in segregated custody.” They define GOLDST as one gram, while every other page says one ounce. Three different companies appear as issuer or account holder. The terms never mention the burn power in the STRATO token code. Holders can redeem only in person in Manhattan.

Review triggers
• STRATO reconciles the segregation clauses and the GOLDST unit in its terms, and names one issuer
• A vault letter or audit after June 2026 confirms metal for the whole supply, allocated to holders
• The STRATO owner burns a holder’s balance, or the Ethereum Safe switches off transfers
• Redemption opens by shipment or outside New York

Ketju checks this memo every night and opens a review if its venues or files show a warning or a cited document changes. The first confirmation is due 2026-12-23.

Research

How it works

Section 5 of the tokenization terms says title and beneficial ownership “remain at all times with the Customer or lawful token holder,” that the metal is held under a bailment with STRATO acting “solely in a custodial capacity,” and that the metal is not company assets. Section 1 extends “Customer” to any later lawful holder of the tokens. Under this commodity-receipt model, if STRATO failed, holders would own the metal outright and would not need to claim against the estate. The terms deny that the tokens are securities.

Two clauses weaken that claim. Section 2 says the metal is held “on an allocated, not segregated, basis,” while Section 5 says it is “held in segregated custody.” Holders still own allocated metal held in a pool, but in an insolvency it is harder to prove which bars belong to whom. Section 2 also defines GOLDST as “1g 9999 fine allocated gold,” while the treasury page reconciles supply in troy ounces; a holder relying on the terms would be owed a thirty-first of what the site promises.

Issuer and reserves

The tokenization terms are those of STRATO, Inc., BVI company 2179057; the platform terms are those of STRATO Nexus, Inc., BVI company 2210755; the vault letters are addressed to BlockApps, Inc. in Brooklyn. BA Gold Enterprises’ letter of 2026-06-25 confirms 6,289 ounces of gold and 59,536 ounces of silver at its two West 47th Street vaults, and a CPA counted the vault at 2025-12-31. The letters give totals and do not allocate metal to holders. The terms promise quarterly reports and the marketing says monthly. STRATO has published none since June, and SILVST supply has since passed the silver confirmed.

Withdrawals

Only the current verified holder on STRATO may redeem, so an Ethereum holder must bridge back first. The holder books five business days ahead and collects in person at the New York vault with ID matching the wallet’s KYC data: silver in 100-ounce bars, gold as two 1-ounce coins. There is no shipping, and the vault’s fees and taxes are not stated. STRATO may suspend redemption for regulatory, security, or force majeure reasons. Everyone else sells in STRATO pools, on Coinstore, or on Uniswap.

Who controls it

On STRATO the token contract, published in BlockApps’ strato-platform repository, gives its owner `burn(address from, uint256 amount)`, which burns any holder’s balance, plus pause and mint. Ketju cannot read contracts on the STRATO chain, so this finding rests on the published source. On Ethereum each token is a UUPS proxy minted only by the bridge contract. A 2-of-3 Safe holds the admin, upgrade, and transfer admin roles; `setTransfersEnabled(false)` stops every transfer except to or from addresses the Safe lists with `setTransferEndpoint`. Transfers were on at 2026-09-23. The platform terms say STRATO does not “create, own, or operate cross-chain bridges,” though its docs describe the bridge it runs.

Comparison

STRATO’s ownership clause is comparable to PAX Gold’s. The rest falls short of PAX Gold: contradictory terms on segregation and on the GOLDST unit, three named companies, a reserve letter that confirms less than supply, an undisclosed power to burn balances, and redemption only in person in New York. Ketju will review the tokens again if STRATO corrects the terms, names one issuer, publishes a current letter covering the whole supply with allocations, and removes or discloses the burn power.

Sources

Each claim above comes from one of these sources. Where Ketju could not verify a number, the memo states that.

• STRATO: Asset Deposit and Tokenization Terms (updated 2026-04-22) · primary · accessed 2026-09-23
  Supports: title and beneficial ownership with holder, bailment, allocated not segregated against segregated, GOLDST at one gram, in-person redemption
• STRATO: Terms of Service (updated 2026-06-24) · primary · accessed 2026-09-23
  Supports: STRATO Nexus, Inc., eligibility, bridge disclaimer
• STRATO: Treasury and Audits · primary · accessed 2026-09-23
  Supports: vault letter of 2026-06-25, supply in troy ounces
• STRATO docs: Bridge guide · primary · accessed 2026-09-23
  Supports: lock and mint
• strato-net/strato-platform: Token.sol (develop branch) · primary · accessed 2026-09-23
  Supports: owner burn of any balance
• STRATO Ethereum representation token implementation (Sourcify match) · primary · accessed 2026-09-23
  Supports: setTransfersEnabled, setTransferEndpoint, bridge-only mint, UUPS upgrade

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.