Why Use Gold Currencies?

Why Use Gold Currencies?

By Ken Griffith

We at The Gold Economy believe that electronic Gold Currencies will prove to be as world-changing as the invention of the printing press and gunpowder.

Gold Currencies link together financial institutions and markets across the globe in a way that allows instantaneous value transfers with a mere fraction of the paperwork and fraud associated with traditional bank wires and credit cards.

The architects of the new digital economy are busily at work creating new financial products and linking digital currencies to "old-world" financial networks, allowing you to easily convert your digital currencies to cash anywhere in the world.

Here are some of the reasons that Gold Currencies are the best way to do business on or off the Net! They're cheaper! Transaction costs using credit cards or PayPal range from 2.5% to 4.5%. International bank wires cost, on average, $40 to $70 using Western Union.

Gold Currencies allow transactions to take place from as low as 0.1% (GoldMoney), to 1% on the very high end (e-gold). In other words, the cheapest Gold Currency on the net allows online transactions for FORTY-FIVE TIMES LESS than credit cards.

Gold Currencies lower transaction costs by one or two orders of magnitude! This means that transactions that were previously too expensive to make because of the time, money, and effort involved are now feasible using Gold Currencies such as e-gold, gold-grams, and e-Bullion.

For retail merchants who do a high volume of credit card transactions the savings can be significant! The savings in transaction costs can then be passed along to their customers in the form of lower prices, which will help merchants accepting gold currencies to gain a competitive advantage. They're faster! Credit card transactions can be reversed for three to six months after the sale takes place. This leaves merchants in a vulnerable position. Cheapskates reverse the charges on a regular basis against merchants who delivered the goods. This kind of theft drives up prices for everyone to cover the cost of lost goods and money due to fraudulent credit card use.

Bank wires in-country take at least three days to clear. International bank wires can take up to three weeks to clear!

Gold Currencies solve these problems by allowing INSTANTANEOUS and NON-REVERSIBLE transactions! For merchants this means that ALL SALES ARE FINAL. They don't have to worry about having THEIR account frozen because some hacker used a stolen credit card at their store.

This also means that when you need to send money to a friend or family member anywhere in the world, you can do it in a few seconds. That's FAST! They are International! PayPal only works in the United States. In order for people outside the US to sell their product or service to the web, they have needed an international credit card merchant account. The problem is, outside the United States and EU, merchant accounts are very difficult to obtain. This creates a barrier to entry that is making it harder for international entrepreneurs to offer their products and services to the world.

Gold Currencies solve that problem by allowing instantaneous transfers of money anywhere in the world!

As the network of exchange agents and market makers grows, it is now possible to quickly and easily convert your digital currency to cash in any country in the world.

The E-Bullion Debit Card allows account holders to withdraw their convert their gold or silver bullion to cash through any ATM machine on the planet! This means that no matter where you are, if you can find an ATM machine, you can convert your Gold Currency into cash in the local currency! There are also several other companies offering Gold Currency linked debit cards as well. To see a list click here. Gold Currencies Are Safe! Credit card fraud is becoming increasingly prevalent as hackers steal card numbers from computer networks, crooks root through your garbage and steal your identity, and other nefarious thieves devise ways to get your account number.

Digital Currencies offer a higher level of security than credit cards. Even the lowest level of security for digital money, an account number and password, is a magnitude safer than a credit card. All a thief needs to steal a credit card is the account number. With digital currencies the merchant never sees your password, so it is impossible for a thief to steal it, unless you give it to him yourself (by letting him access your computer - see our article on protecting your computer from hackers).

$5 Indian Gold Coin
Gold Money supports digital certificates for customer identification. These certificates cryptographically verify that you are you. This makes it more difficult for thieves from accessing your account. E-Bullion offers a small calculator sized device called the CRYPTO Card that provides brokerage-level security for E-Bullion accounts. These CRYPTO Cards only cost $175 and are virtually impossible for hackers to break.

There are other improvements still to come, such as gold based e-cash payments from wireless phones and PDA's, digital gold investment certificates, and more!

Gold Currencies Allow Person to Person Payments!
Gold Currencies allow one thing that credit cards never will: Person to Person Payments.

PayPal is limited to the United States. So what do you do if you want to buy a collector's doll that you found in an online classified ad, if the owner lives in New Zealand and you live in the US?

Gold Currencies allow you to spend your money to anyone else who has a gold currency account. In the case of some forms of gold currency, such as Crowne Gold, you can spend to someone who doesn't even have an account yet!

It only takes a few moments for your friend to open his own account using the Internet, and in most cases it doesn't even cost a penny!

Gold Currencies Allow You to Protect Your Privacy!
It is a known fact that traditional banks keep massive databases tracking all of your account activity in the name of "know your customer" and "fighting the war on drugs".

But in reality, we all know that those banks conveniently use those databases to sell information about their customers spending habits to other companies, and governments use that data to find excuses to confiscate your money and property. So, not only does your government have access to all of your spending habits, but so does any individual or organization who wants to buy it.

Most Gold Currencies are based in "capital-friendly" jurisdictions with strict privacy protection laws. For someone to get your account information they have to obtain a court order in the country that your Gold Currency is housed.

This means that true crimes can be prosecuted, but that your privacy will remain intact if you are just an average law abiding customer. Think of it as garuanteeing yourself the right to "due process".

Furthermore, money laundering is not really an issue since you have to spend your national money (such as dollars) through an exchange agent in order to purchase Digital Currency in the first place. Since exchange agents all have accounts at banks with anti-moneylaundering practices in place, this means that all money used to purchase digital currencies is theoretically "clean". Clean money in, clean money out!

So, Gold Currencies are able to provide privacy to their customers, and still be able to garuantee that they are not being used for money laundering. As Bob Hettinga put it, Gold Currencies are "orthagonal" to the traditional financial world. As long as all the money coming in and out goes through banks with anti-money laundering practices in place, then money laundering is impossible.

Furthermore, all of the Gold Currencies in business at this time are firmly committed to discouraging crime and money laundering, while at the same time protecting the privacy of their account holders.

You can obtain an E-Bullion Debit Card and withdraw your gold currency from any ATM machine in the world as cash. But since the cards are processed in an offshore jurisdiction, you can be assured that your privacy is protected. Since both of these companies are diligent in preventing money laundering, you can be assured that you are in good company.

Conclusion
Why use Gold Currencies? Because they are cheaper, faster, safer, global, and private.


Other Gold and Precious Metals Websites:

Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee - An advocacy group for gold investors and sound money policies.


GovMint.com