Delaware Depository Review for Gold IRAs

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What Delaware Depository actually is

Delaware Depository is a privately held precious metals custody and distribution center that holds physical gold, silver, platinum, and palladium on behalf of IRA custodians, brokerage firms, refiners, coin dealers, and individual investors. It does not sell coins, set premiums, or advise on investment choices.

The company describes itself on its About page as an Exchange-approved precious metals depository providing specialized custody, accounting, and shipping services. Its customer list on that page includes IRA custodians, investment banks, brokerage firms, refiners, manufacturers, commodity trading houses, major retailers, coin dealers, and individual investors (source: delawaredepository.com About page, checked July 2026).

The Wikipedia entry on the company traces its founding to 1999 and lists its headquarters at 3601 N Market Street, Wilmington, DE 19802 (source: Wikipedia entry citing the company contact page, checked July 2026). The main published phone line at the Wilmington site is (302) 765-3889.

For a gold IRA holder, the depository is the last link in the chain. The dealer sells the metal. The custodian holds legal title inside the IRA. The depository holds the physical bars or coins in a secure vault, off the balance sheet of any bank, until the account owner instructs otherwise.

Wilmington headquarters and other vault sites

The primary Delaware Depository facility sits at 3601 North Market Street in Wilmington, Delaware. A second US facility operates at 1009 Industrial Road in Boulder City, Nevada, per the site footer (source: delawaredepository.com footer, checked July 2026). The Nevada location maintains the same externally audited internal controls and procedures as the Delaware vaults, per the Storage and Transfers page.

The Wikipedia entry on Delaware Depository lists a wider footprint: Wilmington, DE; Aston, PA; Boulder City, NV; Spring Valley, NV; plus international sites in Canada and Switzerland. The company's Storage and Transfers page confirms international storage, naming gold in Zurich, Switzerland and gold, silver, and platinum in Toronto, Canada.

Delaware itself is favorable for a precious metals vault operator. Delaware has no sales tax on precious metals storage, and there are no corporate net worth, personal inventory, or transfer taxes applied to bullion transactions, per the Delaware Depository About page. That tax framing benefits the vault operator, not the IRA owner directly.

State-chartered trust company: what that means

Delaware Depository's IRA Services page states that it is a state-chartered trust company regulated by the banking commissioner and required to follow strict banking standards and best practices (source: delawaredepository.com IRA Services page, checked July 2026). The trust company charter is what allows the depository to hold IRA assets in a form the IRS accepts.

The same page draws a specific line: the depository takes no cash deposits, makes no loans, does not offer checking or savings accounts, and does not engage in other typical high-risk banking operations. That narrow scope is the point. A pure custody trust company is less exposed to bank failure than a full-service commercial bank.

Under 26 U.S.C. section 408, an IRA can only be held by a bank, a federally insured credit union, a state-chartered trust company, or an IRS-approved non-bank trustee (source: Cornell Legal Information Institute, checked July 2026). Delaware Depository qualifies under the state-chartered trust company branch of that rule.

The company is also SSAE18 SOC-1 Type 1 audited, per the site footer. That is an independent third-party audit of the depository's internal controls over the services it provides to its customers. It is the standard evidence a custodian looks at before naming a depository on its paperwork.

Insurance stack: 1 billion dollars all-risk plus shipment coverage

Delaware Depository maintains 1 billion dollars of all-risk insurance coverage through reputable London-based underwriters, per its About page (source: delawaredepository.com About page, checked July 2026). All-risk means the coverage answers a wide list of loss scenarios rather than a short named-perils list.

The company describes the coverage as including all conceivable scenarios of physical loss and damage, including mysterious disappearances, unexplained shortages, and employee dishonesty or theft. The About page also lists specific exclusions: acts of war, terrorism, cyber attacks, radioactive contamination, and chemical, biological, biochemical, and electromagnetic weapons.

Shipment coverage is separate and smaller. For bullion sent by mail or express carrier, the depository offers insurance coverage of up to 100,000 dollars per package. That figure matters when a reader takes an in-kind distribution or moves metal between depositories in multiple smaller shipments rather than one large armored move.

Independent verification is baked into the routine. Certified public accountants and insurance brokers conduct annual reviews of operations, per the About page. Daily backups of computer data are stored in on-site and off-site data vaults, and an internal audit team performs continuous physical counts of stored bullion.

CME Group and ICE Futures exchange licenses

Delaware Depository is licensed by CME Group for the COMEX and NYMEX Divisions. That license authorizes storage of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium bullion deliverable in satisfaction of futures contract delivery obligations, per its Storage and Transfers page (source: delawaredepository.com Storage page, checked July 2026). That license is a hard bar to clear.

Being CME-approved means the exchange has inspected the depository, accepted its vault security, and cleared it to hold bars that can be tendered against a futures contract on the exchange. Not every bullion vault holds this status. For an IRA reader, the practical value is that the metal is held at a facility built to institutional standards.

The depository is also licensed by ICE Futures US to store gold and silver deliverable against ICE futures contracts. That is a second exchange line of defense. Both licenses require ongoing compliance with exchange rules; they are not a one-time badge.

Bar and coin acceptance at an exchange-approved vault follows a strict lineage. Bars must come from a refiner accredited by NYMEX, COMEX, LBMA, or a similar authority. This lineage matters for gold IRA readers because the same accreditation feeds the IRC section 408 fineness standard for IRA-eligible bullion.

Segregated vs non-segregated storage

Delaware Depository offers two storage arrangements: segregated and non-segregated. The Storage and Transfers page describes both in plain terms. The choice affects your annual cost and what you get back the day you close the account.

Segregated storage means your bullion is inspected, packaged, labeled, and stored in high-security vaults, physically separate and apart from the bullion of other customers. You are assured of receiving back the same exact bars or coins that were originally deposited. This assurance costs more because of the labor and space it requires.

Non-segregated storage means fungible bullion products, which are commercially interchangeable by nature, are inspected and stored in high-security vaults in bulk. Frequent recurring audits and independently audited internal controls ensure that all bullion is properly accounted for. Cost savings come from the shared handling.

The choice is not permanent. Most custodians allow a reader to change from non-segregated to segregated later, subject to depository handling fees on the reclassification. Choose at intake based on how much certainty you want around getting the exact original bar back, and adjust later only if the answer changes.

IRA storage: how Delaware Depository qualifies

The IRS requires that precious metals held inside an IRA be in the possession of a bank or an IRS-approved non-bank trustee, per IRC section 408(m). Delaware Depository is qualified to store IRA assets under that rule, per its IRA Services page (source: delawaredepository.com IRA Services page, checked July 2026).

All bullion held at Delaware Depository on behalf of an IRA custodian is fully allocated to the account holder and held off balance sheet. That is the phrasing the depository uses to describe its custody model. Off balance sheet means the metal is not counted among the depository's own assets and is not exposed to a claim against the depository as a company.

The depository is a state-chartered trust company that meets IRC requirements for IRA custody and safekeeping of precious metals. Bullion held with Delaware Depository has no risk of being considered a distribution or collectible by the IRS, per the IRA Services page. This is a specific IRS concern for home-stored gold, and it does not apply here.

The typical IRA workflow does not put the reader in direct contact with Delaware Depository at first. A dealer sells the metal, a custodian like STRATA or Equity Trust holds legal title, and the depository receives the bars. Statements come through the custodian, though most readers can also open a personal Delaware Depository online view of holdings.

How Texas readers reach Delaware Depository through a custodian

For a Texas resident opening a gold IRA, Delaware Depository shows up on the dealer paperwork as the named depository on the buy instruction. The reader typically never signs anything directly with the depository. The named custodian on the same paperwork is the one who instructs Delaware Depository to receive the metal.

Custodians commonly paired with Delaware Depository include STRATA Trust Company in Austin, Equity Trust in Ohio, and other IRS-approved trust companies. The exact pairing depends on the dealer's default paperwork. Ask the dealer specifically which depository will hold the metal before signing the buy instruction, and confirm the storage type at the same time.

Texas has no state personal income tax (source: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, checked July 2026). A distribution from a gold IRA that holds metal at Delaware Depository is taxed at the federal ordinary income rate only, with no Texas state layer. Consult your tax advisor for your specific bracket and situation.

What Texas residents lose by picking Delaware over an in-state depository is proximity. Wilmington, DE sits well over 1,000 miles from Houston, Dallas, and Austin. What they gain is a mature 1999-era vault operator with 1 billion dollars of insurance and dual exchange licenses, at a depository that has been named on IRA paperwork for over two decades.

Fee stack for a $100,000 Texas gold IRA at Delaware

Delaware Depository does not publish a full retail fee schedule for IRA storage on its public site. The storage cost your account pays is set by the IRA custodian and passed through in its own fee schedule. STRATA Trust Company, which is one of the depositories' named IRA partners, publishes clear numbers you can use as a reference point.

Under the STRATA Precious Metals tier, the recurring cost stack on a metals-only account is 125 dollars per year for the STRATA account fee (source: stratatrust.com fee schedule, checked June 2026). Storage adds 100 dollars per year for non-segregated, or 175 dollars per year for segregated. One-off transaction and shipping fees apply on top.

Reading the chart: the recurring cost is fixed in dollars, so the percentage drag on your balance shrinks as the account grows. On a 250,000-dollar account, the non-segregated stack of 225 dollars per year lands at 0.09 percent. That is a feature of flat-fee custody paired with flat-fee storage.

Estimate the annual fee drag on your own balance

Use the calculator below to enter your planned rollover balance and see the estimated annual carrying cost and fee drag as a percentage. The default fees mirror the STRATA plus Delaware Depository non-segregated stack described above. Verify current fees with your custodian before you sign the paperwork.

How to open a Delaware Depository storage arrangement

A Delaware Depository storage arrangement for a gold IRA runs through your chosen custodian, not directly with the depository. The steps below describe what happens between selecting the depository on your intake form and seeing the first depository receipt on your account.

1. Pick your IRA custodian first. Delaware Depository is named on the custodian's approved depository list. STRATA Trust Company and Equity Trust are two commonly paired custodians. Confirm that Delaware Depository is on the custodian's approved list before you commit to a dealer.
2. Choose your storage type at intake. Non-segregated is the lower-cost pooled option. Segregated returns your exact bars or coins at withdrawal. Segregated typically costs 75 dollars per year more under the STRATA schedule.
3. Fund the IRA at the custodian. Rollover from a former 401(k), 403(b), TSP, or existing IRA. A trustee-to-trustee transfer avoids the 60-day rollover risk under IRC section 402. The custodian receives the cash before any coin buy can settle.
4. Sign the buy instruction naming Delaware Depository. The dealer prepares the buy instruction that names the coins or bars, the price, and Delaware Depository as the depository. The custodian executes the wire to the dealer once you sign.
5. Dealer ships insured to Wilmington or the named vault. The dealer ships the bullion to the depository under insured freight. Delaware Depository receives, inspects, and vaults the metal under your account.
6. Confirm the depository receipt. Your custodian receives a receipt from Delaware Depository confirming the metal is in vault. That is the moment the account holds physical metal rather than cash. Ask the custodian to send you the depository receipt in writing.
7. Open a personal online view (optional). Individual holders can register at myaccount.delawaredepository.com to view holdings and reports directly, per the depository's site. This does not replace the custodian statements the IRS relies on for reporting.

Worked example: fee drag on a Dallas rollover

Delaware Depository vs the Texas Bullion Depository

Texas readers who look at Delaware Depository almost always also look at the Texas Bullion Depository. The two vaults sit in different legal categories and offer a different reader experience. The comparison below focuses on published facts and leaves the choice to the reader.

Delaware Depository is a privately held, state-chartered Delaware trust company founded in 1999, headquartered in Wilmington. The Texas Bullion Depository is an agency of the State of Texas, located in Leander, Texas, established by law signed by Governor Greg Abbott on June 12, 2015, and operated by Lone Star Tangible Assets as the vendor since 2017.

The decision is not automatic. Delaware Depository brings a longer vault operating history, dual exchange licenses, and a clearly published 1 billion dollars of vault insurance. The Texas Bullion Depository brings in-state storage, state supervision, and geographic proximity for Texas retirees who want the metal on Texas soil.

For a reader who has no strong location preference, the Delaware Depository stack is a mature and widely accepted choice. For a reader who cares specifically about keeping IRA metal inside Texas borders, the Texas Bullion Depository is the natural pairing. Neither choice changes federal tax treatment of the IRA.

Balanced pros and cons

When Delaware Depository is a bad fit for you

Frequently asked questions

By Harry's Coins Editorial. Independent, editorial. Last reviewed July 2026.