From Apple and PayPal to Ubuntu Tribe: Why a Tech Veteran is Tokenizing Gold and Silver for the Masses

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This article is part of our Consensus HK 2026 Coverage

For years, the crypto industry operated under a “move fast and break things” mantra: launch a token, build a community, and worry about regulations later. It was a model that sparked innovation but often left users vulnerable and institutions skeptical.

Lisa Loud (LinkedIn, X), a Silicon Valley veteran who engineered systems for giants like Apple and PayPal, watched this evolution with a distinct perspective. Now, as the Head of Product at Ubuntu Tribe, she is applying decades of institutional discipline to a project that aims to democratize access to the world’s oldest forms of money: gold and silver.

“It’s very easy to launch a service in crypto. It’s very difficult to launch a service that is compliant,” Lisa shared in an exclusive interview with BitPinas at Consensus Hong Kong. “So now we have the compliance, we have all of the foundation ready, and we’re just ready to move forward.”

In this interview, find out why for Lisa, the future of web3 is to use blockchain to give everyone equal access to financial freedom, from unbanked villagers to institutional investors.

The Story of Lisa Loud

From Tech Giants to Financial Freedom

Lisa’s resume reads like a timeline of the tech revolution.

She started her career as a software developer at Apple before moving to PayPal, where she led engineering teams and reorganized their marketing structure.

It was at PayPal in 2017 that she first tried to bridge the gap between traditional finance and blockchain.

“I wanted to get PayPal to enter the crypto space because… PayPal’s an innovator in finance, it makes sense,” Lisa recalled. “But they did not think it made sense. So I left PayPal in 2017 and went into the crypto space.”

Since then, she has helped shape the industry from the inside, holding leadership roles at major crypto entities like ShapeShift, BitMEX, and the Secret Network Foundation before joining Ubuntu Tribe.

Ubuntu Tribe: Hiding the Complexity, Revealing the Value

Now at Ubuntu Tribe, Lisa is tackling a problem that has plagued the financial system for centuries: inequality of access.

While South America and Africa are among the world’s largest exporters of precious metals, their populations have historically seen the least benefit from them.

Ubuntu Tribe’s solution is GIFT (Gold International Fungible Token).

Using blockchain technology, they tokenize gold into units as small as 1 milligram. This will allow basically anyone with a smartphone to buy or save in gold.

“The idea of tokenization is that it can remedy that balance. It can make it so that people around the world can buy as small as 1 milligram of gold… This allows them to have a savings plan using an asset that historically appreciates.”

Lisa Loud, Ubuntu Tribe

Beyond Gold: The Case for Tokenized Silver

While tokenized gold products like already exist, Lisa revealed that Ubuntu Tribe is pioneering a new frontier: tokenized silver.

Silver is unique because it acts as both a monetary store of value and an industrial metal essential for electric vehicles and solar panels^{. This dual utility creates a different investment profile compared to gold.}

“While silver is much more volatile… it’s a good part of a rounded portfolio because you have that volatility, you can have more short-term gains,” she noted.

Currently, few major players offer a fully compliant, redeemable silver token. This places Ubuntu Tribe in a unique position to capture this untapped market.

Compliance as a Moat

In a crowded market of “asset-backed” tokens, trust is the only currency that matters. Lisa emphasized that Ubuntu Tribe’s biggest advantage is redeemability and compliance.

Lisa says Ubuntu Tribe ensures that tokens are backed 1:1 by physical metal that users can actually claim. She asserted:

“The gold is all there… it’s fully backed. It’s also compliant. We have agreements with many countries to make sure that we’re regulatorily compliant. Many of these other tokens don’t have that.”

Targeting Southeast Asia: What’s Next

During the interview, Lisa highlighted Southeast Asia as a critical region for their expansion because of its high “appetite” and speed of adoption.

“This is a very interesting region for us… the appetite is very high. I think we have an opportunity over the next three months or so to establish a presence and to make some waves in Southeast Asia.”

As Ubuntu Tribe prepares to expand its footprint, Lisa remains driven by the project’s namesake philosophy: Ubuntu, meaning “I am because we are.”

Her goal is to build a financial academy and ecosystem that provides a stable base for families everywhere to build wealth.

“It should be available to everybody. There’s no reason that it should be limited to the top 1%… [We want] everyone to have the opportunity to have a stable base of savings and of income where they can start to build on their own family’s stability.”

Lisa Loud, Ubuntu Tribe

This article is published on BitPinas: From Apple and PayPal to Ubuntu Tribe: Why a Tech Veteran is Tokenizing Gold and Silver for the Masses

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