Josip Heit

Josip Heit is a Croatian-born entrepreneur and fintech strategist known for founding GSB Gold Standard Corporation AG and for business activities spanning digital assets, blockchain, precious metals and financial technology. His current public profile associates him with Apertum as a Senior Strategic Advisor, where he is connected to a blockchain ecosystem focused on smart contracts, decentralized applications and digital asset infrastructure. Heit and GSB-affiliated entities have been subject to significant regulatory scrutiny in North America, including a 2024 coordinated settlement involving state and provincial securities regulators that required the return of customer funds.

About Josip Heit

Josip Heit is an entrepreneur whose business activities have spanned international trade, precious metals, real estate, fintech and blockchain-based digital assets. He is the founder and Chairman of GSB Gold Standard Corporation AG, a Germany-based company that has operated across fintech, banking-adjacent services and digital asset ventures. His current public profile also identifies him as a Senior Strategic Advisor at Apertum, a Layer-1 blockchain built as a custom Subnet on the Avalanche network. Heit's career illustrates both the entrepreneurial expansion of blockchain-based financial products and the significant regulatory scrutiny such products can attract from securities authorities.

Birthplace & Background

Multiple public profiles, including CryptoSlate and press release biographies, state that Josip Heit was born in 1977 in Split, Croatia. These sources indicate he later lived and worked across several European countries. This profile uses "Born in Split, Croatia" based on consistent self-reported and press-release biographies. Exact birth date is not published here as it has not been independently verified through official records and is not editorially necessary. No private family or residential details are included.

Education

CryptoSlate and several press release biographies state that Heit "studied economics in Germany." However, the specific institution, program, degree earned and dates of completion could not be independently verified through authoritative educational records as of August 2026. Following the accuracy rules in this profile, the education section uses only the verified description: Heit reportedly studied economics in Germany. This profile does not describe him as an "economist" or state that he "holds a degree in economics" unless and until a specific degree from a verifiable institution is confirmed through primary sources.

Early Business Career

Public biographies associate Heit's early professional activity with international trade, vehicles, yachts, precious metals, natural resources and real estate. These descriptions appear primarily in press release and promotional materials. Independent verification of specific early business ventures through company registries, regulatory filings or other authoritative business documentation is limited in public sources as of August 2026. This profile acknowledges the general description of his early career in international trade and commodities while noting that detailed independent verification of each specific area is not available from primary sources. The verified, well-documented phase of Heit's career begins with the founding of GSB Gold Standard Corporation AG.

Founding GSB Gold Standard Corporation AG

Josip Heit founded GSB Gold Standard Corporation AG in 2013, according to CryptoSlate and multiple press release biographies. The company is based in Germany, with press releases referencing Hamburg as its operational base. Heit has served as Chairman of the Board and founder of the company since its founding. The exact founding date, original corporate registration details and current corporate status should be verified through German commercial registry (Handelsregister) records. This profile does not assume that every company containing "GSB" in its name belongs to the same legal entity; each GSB-affiliated entity must be verified individually (see GSB Group section below).

GSB Group

The "GSB Group" is a collective term used in regulatory filings and public communications to refer to a network of companies, brands and platforms associated with Josip Heit. According to the official GSB Settlement Program website (gsbsettlement.com), the entities, brands or platforms that were active and controlled by Josip Heit during all or part of the period from at least 2021 to November 16, 2023, include:

• Gold Standard Corporation AG
• GSB Gold Standard Banking Corporation AG
• GSB Gold Standard Corporation USA
• GSB Gold Standard Pay LTD (brand name GSDeFi, operating g999main.net)
• GSB Gold Standard Bank LTD (dba GS Smart Finance, Gold Standard Partners, GSPartners, GS Partners, GSP)
• GSB Gold Standard Banking Corporation PLC
• GSB Gold Standard Pay Kommanditbolag (GSB Gold Standard Pay KB)
• GS Trade / GSB Gold Standard Trade (virtual digital-asset platform)
• GS Digital Partners LLC
• GSB Gold Standard B Corporation
• GSB Premier Exchange Corporation LTD
• GSB Gold Standard PLC
• GSB Money LTD

This profile clearly distinguishes between brands (e.g., GS Partners, GSDeFi), legal entities (e.g., GSB Gold Standard Bank LTD), products (e.g., G999 token, XLT Vouchers) and affiliate marketing arms (e.g., GSP for the Lydian World metaverse). These are separate companies and brands that were grouped together for the purposes of the regulatory settlement; they should not be merged into a single legal entity.

"Bank" Terminology

Several GSB entities have used the word "Bank" or "Banking" in their names, including GSB Gold Standard Bank LTD and GSB Gold Standard Banking Corporation AG. The inclusion of "Bank" in a company name does not, by itself, establish that the entity holds a banking licence or is authorised to conduct regulated banking activities. This profile does not describe any GSB entity as a "licensed bank," "regulated bank" or "deposit-taking institution" unless and until a specific banking licence from a recognised banking regulator (e.g., BaFin in Germany, FCA in the UK, or another prudential banking supervisor) can be verified through official regulatory records. The NASAA settlement announcement described GSB Gold Standard Corporation AG as a company "purportedly operating in the fintech and banking industries," and the Texas State Securities Board described it as a company "purportedly operating in the fintech and banking industries." The word "purportedly" in regulatory communications is significant and should not be overlooked. Readers should verify any banking-licence claims directly with the relevant prudential regulator.

GS Partners

GS Partners was a brand name under which GSB Gold Standard Bank LTD operated, alongside the brand names GS Smart Finance, Gold Standard Partners and GSP. According to the NASAA settlement announcement, GS Partners and its affiliates claimed to have over 800,000 investors from more than 170 countries and to be close to completing $1 billion in transactions. The NASAA working group identified GS Partners as the primary channel through which investment products were offered to the public, including through in-person seminars at churches, hotels and convention centres, as well as online presentations via Zoom, Facebook Live, websites and social media. Promotional materials used phrases such as "the best opportunity on the planet," "gamechanger," "industry disrupter" and "building generational wealth." The 2024 NASAA settlement identified GSB Gold Standard Bank LTD (commonly known as GS Partners) and named Josip Heit as the principal and Chairman of the Board. The current operational status of GS Partners is addressed in the "GSB Group: Current Status" section below.

G999

G999 was a blockchain/token project launched by GSB Gold Standard Banking on December 8, 2020, as announced in press releases distributed through AP Multimedia and other channels. G999 was described as a blockchain ecosystem for payments, communications and digital asset services. The NASAA settlement announcement identified the "G999 token" as "a digital asset deployed on a proprietary blockchain purportedly tied to physical gold." The word "purportedly" in the regulatory description is significant. This profile does not repeat marketing claims that G999 was "ultra-fast," "revolutionary" or "gold-backed" without evidence. If gold backing was claimed for G999, the existence of audited reserves, custody arrangements and redemption rights should be verified through independent documentation. No such audited reserve documentation has been identified in public regulatory filings as of August 2026. G999's current operational status is addressed in the "GSB Group: Current Status" section below.