New York-based cryptocurrency firm Veritaseum have ramped up their expansion into the African economic system, with CEO Reggie Middleton bringing attention to his company’s asset-backed VeGold token in Nigeria.

Coin Rivet exclusively broke news of Veritaseum’s African expansion in October. Development on the project is already under way, with Middleton showcasing the product to the Nigerian Stock Exchange and at conferences in recent weeks.

Speaking at the ASEA conference in Lagos, Middleton said: “This is very fertile ground for economic growth. This trip, I’m bringing gold back to the motherland, back to Africa. This gold [in my hand] will back digital VeGold tokens, which is going to be used as a staple store of value in Nigeria. This will be very utilitarian.”

Middleton, who remarkably called the collapse of the housing market in 2007 and the demise of Bear Stearns in 2008, claims that “using blockchain and smart contracts will distribute wealth across the land that most of it came from in the first place.”

Speaking about how Veritaseum can disrupt the traditional financial system, Middleton added: “We are a peer-to-peer capital markets company. Basically we reimagine capital markets away from the traditional model. We enable every individual to be their own financial entity, and trade value peer-to-peer directly over the counter.”

The ongoing cryptocurrency bear market has seen a vast amount of projects halt development until the market cycles back around. This isn’t the case for Veritaseum however, who continue to innovate in order to bring a fundamental switch in the worldwide distribution of wealth.