VNX Gold (VNXAU)

Research, firm shelf, model-client eligibility, and advisor selection are recorded separately. The scheduled date is the outside bound; new evidence can reopen the file sooner.

VNXAU is a gold token at one gram per token, issued by VNX Commodities AG in Liechtenstein under the country’s Blockchain Act. The bars sit at Philoro Edelmetallhandel AG in Eschen. About 43,984 VNXAU were outstanding across chains on 2026-09-23, roughly $5.9 million, and 72% of them were on Etherlink. On paper this is the stronger kind of gold token: the holder owns a share of numbered bars, and the Terms keep the gold out of VNX’s bankruptcy estate. In practice four things weaken it. The vault account is in VNX’s name and VNX’s own register decides who owns what, so a holder who never registers is not the owner the documents describe. The last reserve check, an agreed-upon procedures report with no assurance, counted 13,100 grams at 2025-12-31 and did not cover Etherlink, where most of today’s supply was minted after it. On every EVM chain a single private key controls the admin and upgrade keys, and the token can freeze an address and move its whole balance to VNX. And vnx.li was offline, with the Terms available only as a 2023 archive. The assessment is adverse.

Research triggers: events that reopen the assessment or shelf decision
• VNX publishes a reserve report, with assurance, that covers every chain including Etherlink
• The admin and upgrade keys move from single keys to a multisig or timelock
• VNX republishes current Commodity Token Terms, or its site returns with different terms
• The FMA records a MiCA authorization, or a lapse of the token generator or TT depositary registration
• VNX freezes and reclaims a holder’s balance, or supply across chains keeps growing without a reserve report

The research file

What the holder owns

The 2023 Terms say a token represents “(partial) ownership in certain specified quantity of a specific Commodity purchased, held and stored by VNX Commodities in Your name.” Section 8 pools the bars in a Collective Token Holders Commodity Deposit, gives each holder numbered pieces matching the tokens held, and lets VNX return an equivalent bar on exit. Title passes with the token under Liechtenstein’s TVTG, which treats the token as the carrier of the right, and Section 16 keeps the deposit out of VNX’s estate in bankruptcy. The Terms deny that the token is a security under MiFID II.

Two qualifications matter. The GitBook says a holder is the lawful owner only “subject to successful registration, identification, and passing anti-money laundering checks,” and the auditor calls VNX’s holder register “the basis to assert a property right.” A token bought on a DEX and never registered is, on VNX’s own documents, a claim that must still be perfected with VNX. And the vault account at Philoro is in VNX’s name “as the vicarious owner, registrar and depository,” so the bars are not titled to holders at the vault; the protection rests on Liechtenstein law recognizing VNX as holding them for others.

How redemption works

A registered, KYC-verified holder moves tokens to a VNX platform wallet. From 1,000 VNXAU, one kilogram, VNX will buy the tokens back for fiat or crypto, usually within a business day, or release a 1 kg bar for collection at the vault or delivery at the holder’s cost. The 2023 fee schedule charges €150 to open an account, a termination fee of 1.5% falling to 0.5% with size, and 0.15% on every on-chain transfer; storage is free now but may later be taken as tokens from every wallet. Below one kilogram the exit is an exchange or a DEX pool.

Who controls the contracts

Ethereum, Base, Polygon, and Etherlink run the same VNXDGR implementation behind transparent proxies. The asset-protection role can `freeze` any address and then call `reclaimTokensFromFrozenAddress`, which moves the frozen balance to the caller; the Ketju reader now counts that as a clawback. The contract can be paused, the supply controller mints with `increaseSupply`, and a fee can be set on transfers. On each chain the owner and proxy admin trace to a single private key, not a multisig or timelock, so one key can upgrade the code. On Solana one key holds both the mint and freeze authority.

The Terms match the code: on a court or authority order VNX may block tokens, move them to its custodial wallet, or cancel them, and may block platform instructions for “compelling reasons.”

Reserves and regulation

AREVA General Auditing and Trust Company ran agreed-upon procedures on VNX’s reserve report as of 2025-12-31 and found 13,100 VNXAU against 13,100 grams at Philoro. The report says it is “not a reasonable or limited assurance engagement,” gives no opinion on the holder register, and lists supply only on Ethereum, Q, Polygon, Solana, and Base. VNX launched on Etherlink in March 2026 and was minting there every few minutes on 2026-09-23; about 31,747 VNXAU sat on Etherlink with no report covering them, and total supply was about 3.4 times the grams last checked.

The FMA register lists VNX as a token generator and TT depositary. Its TT exchange service provider registration expired on 2026-07-02 under the transition to MiCA, and no MiCA authorization appears. The Terms name excluded countries only at account opening and do not mention US persons.

Comparison and decision

Against PAX Gold, VNXAU offers a similar ownership claim under Liechtenstein rather than New York law, but with a 1 kg redemption floor, ownership tied to registration, single-key admin control, and a reserve check that no longer covers most of the supply. Against DGLD, whose holders own specific bars outright, it adds VNX’s register between the holder and the metal. The assessment reopens if VNX publishes a reserve report covering every chain, moves its keys to a multisig or timelock, republishes current Terms, or obtains MiCA authorization.

Sources

The claims above trace to these. Where a number could not be independently verified, the thesis says so.

• VNX Platform GitBook (full text) · primary · accessed 2026-09-23
  Supports: ownership of specific bars, ownership subject to registration, contracts by chain, transfer notification
• VNX Commodities AG: Commodity Token Terms (dated 2023-02-23; Wayback capture of 2023-03-31) · primary · accessed 2026-09-23
  Supports: partial ownership in the holder’s name, collective deposit, bankruptcy remoteness, not a security, enforcement blocking and cancellation, fees
• AREVA: agreed-upon procedures report on the VNXAU reserve as of 2025-12-31 (Wayback capture of 2026-04-24) · primary · accessed 2026-09-23
  Supports: 13,100 grams at Philoro, account in VNX’s name, no assurance, register is the basis of the property right
• FMA Liechtenstein register: VNX Commodities AG · primary · accessed 2026-09-23
  Supports: token generator, TT depositary, TT exchange service provider expired 2026-07-02
• VNXAU implementation on Base (Sourcify match) · primary · accessed 2026-09-23
  Supports: freeze and reclaimTokensFromFrozenAddress, pause, increaseSupply

Inherited controls

The research above describes the protocol layer. Every position also inherits the asset it holds and the chain it settles on. The most administered layer sets the position’s effective control grade; that is a control description, not a quality or suitability score.