Exhibit
31.1

CERTIFICATION
OF CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER PURSUANT
TO SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

I, Graham
Tuckwell, certify that:

I have
reviewed this report on Form 10-K of the ETFS Gold Trust (Trust);

Based on my
knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact
or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in
light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not
misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

Based on my
knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included
in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial
condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and
for, the periods presented in this report;

The
registrants other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing
and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act
Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting
(as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant
and have:

Designed such
disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and
procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material
information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated
subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly
during the period in which this report is being prepared;

b. Designed
such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control
over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide
reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the
preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with
generally accepted accounting principles;

c. Evaluated
the effectiveness of the registrants disclosure controls and procedures and
presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the
disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this
report based on such evaluation; and

d. Disclosed
in this report any change in the registrants internal control over financial
reporting that occurred during the registrants fourth fiscal quarter that has
materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the
registrants internal control over financial reporting; and

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The
registrants other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most
recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the
registrants auditors and the audit committee the registrants board of
directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

a. All
significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of
internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to
adversely affect the registrants ability to record, process, summarize and
report financial information; and

b. Any fraud,
whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a
significant role in the registrants internal control over financial reporting.

|                                       |                 | 
|-------------------------------------- | --------------- | 
|Date:                                  | March 15,
 2011 | 
|                                       |                
|/s/ Graham
 Tuckwell                   | *              
|                                       |                
|Graham
 Tuckwell**                     |                
|Chief
 Executive Officer and President |                
|(principal
 executive officer)         |                

|   |                                                                                                                                                         
|-- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|*  | The
 originally executed copy of this Certification will be maintained at the
 Sponsors offices and will be made available for inspection upon request.
|   |                                                                                                                                                         
|** | The
 Registrant is a trust and Mr. Tuckwell is signing in his capacity as an
 officer of ETF Securities USA LLC, the Sponsor of the Registrant.         

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