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The International Gold Community The Gold community centers around the use of GOLD (AUG) as a worldwide digital currency. The focal point of this community is presently e-Gold Limited which is the primary issuer of digital currency, although new competitors in the field such as GoldMoney.com and E-bullion.com are now offering gold digital currencies as well. The foundational currencies to the Gold Economy are 100% backed by gold bars held in secure vaults in locations around the world, such as London, Zurich, and Dubai. Should any holder of a gold digital currency require their equivalent value of gold holdings, they are redeemable in actual gold bars or can be converted to national currencies by exchange agents. The focus of the community is to conduct international commerce using a digital currency that has value to people of every nationality. No matter what language you speak, from the peaks of Nepal to downtown Manhattan, all cultures and tribes know in the depths of their being that gold is good, gold is beautiful, gold is enduring, and when it comes right down to it they will accept gold as money. Since the metric system is universally recognized, the natural global currency would be gold denominated in grams. To allow small transactions and making change, this currency is divisible to at least one thousandth of a gram (mil) or smaller.  One gram of gold trades for roughly $10 these days, so one mil would be roughly equivalent in value to one penny. The digital gold community is expanding rapidly. There are now several issuers of Gold Currency (AUG). Issuers underwrite a currency or means of exchange, each for different purposes, but all use Gold as their redeemable value. There are now more people than ever people using digital Gold as a tool to build their businesses and to make international commerce safer and more efficient. The gold reserve backing this community has been growing at a rate of over 10% a month for more than a year. As of October, 2001, the total gold reserve represented by e-gold, E-bullion, and GoldMoney is greater than that of 45 member countries of the IMF, and exceeds 35 tons of gold.

It's easy to see why gold was humanity's currency of choice for all those centuries. It doesn't tarnish or rust. It exists in limited quantity, making it hard for governments to manipulate. And it looks and feels comforting, a kind of metallic analogue of ice cream and chocolate. Converted into bits in this way, gold once again becomes a viable -- some would say vastly superior -- kind of money. Conceptually, it works like this: You transfer some dollars or euros or whatever to a firm that buys gold for you and deposits it in a super-safe vault. You then make payments from this account via credit card or PC, and the gold -- without ever leaving the vault --  is credited to the recipient's account.

This is a guide to the players in the community and how they work together to provide a global financial network that is easy to use.

Issuers (Underwriters)

Issuers are operators of digital currencies that issue value to customers and provide an accounting interface online for holders of the currency to record their own purchases of currency, spending of that currency to others, receipt of currency from others and for recoding fee payments to the currency operator. The issuing company is responsible for maintaining an asset of underlying value, properly accounting for all currency activities, and ensuring the access of data relating to the currency is always available to the customer. You can view a list of digital currency issuers here  -

The Currencies

There are now several digital currencies available for use on the Internet, each with its own market niche.

e-gold – This digital currency is gold denominated in troy ounces and is issued by the company of the same name, E-gold, Ltd., of Nevis.  E-gold was the first digital gold currency, making its debut in 1996.  There are now over 60,000 oz of e-gold issued as digital currency.  The gold bullion itself is stored in vaults in London, Zurich, and Dubai.

GoldGrams – This currency is issued by GoldMoney, Inc., a Bahamas Corporation.  GoldGrams are denominated in grams of fine gold, and the bullion bars are stored in the ViaMat vault in London.

Standard Gold  - This currency is backed by Standard Reserve and powered by Standard Transactions.  This currency is denominated in grams of fine gold and is backed by e-gold on a one to one basis.  (1 gram of Standard Gold is backed by 1 gram of e-gold.)  Standard Reserve offers an offshore debit card through which you can spend your digital gold at ATM machines and POS terminals.

Standard Dollar – This currency is basically a digital form of the US Dollar.  Standard Reserve holds one dollar in the bank for every Standard Dollar issued.  The close relationship between Standard Dollars and Standard Gold allows the two to be easily converted from one to the other.

E-bullion – E-bullion is the newest digital gold currency, with bullion storage vaults in the US and Panama.  E-bullion offers an offshore debit card through which you can spend your digital gold at ATM machines and POS terminals.

Hansa Dollar – The Hansa dollar is a new digital form of the US Dollar backed by Hansa Bank in Anguilla (Easter Carribean).  This system is a form of digital cash rather than an account based system.

Exchange Agents

Exchange Agents, also called "Market Makers" or "Cambios", create a market between local national currencies and digital currencies such as e-Gold, DigiGold, goldgrams, SR-AUG and SR-USD. There are now exchange agents located in many countries around the world. These include the USA, Australia, Canada, Anguilla, Argentina, New Zealand, Russia, Estonia, and many more to come. An exchange agent is a private business that will sell customers digital currency, such as e-gold, or will buy a customer's digital currency with a national currency such as the US Dollar. 

Exchange Agents set their own rates and deal with specific national currencies. For example, market makers in Australia deal with Australian Dollars, Australian Credit and Debit Card payments, and checks to enable customers to obtain digital currencies. This enables customers to do business with merchants and other businesses anywhere in the world. Exchange Agents also offer various services and conveniences to their customers such as cashing out digital currency with a bank wire, ACH deposit, cash withdrawal at a large bank, or allowing you to pay your monthly bills directly with digital currency.
 

Merchants Merchants that accept E-Gold, DigiGold, SR-AUG, and goldgrams are on the increase. Merchants are finding that the primary advantages to accepting digital currencies for payment include no-chargebacks from credit card companies, instant and final clearing of funds at the time of sale, greatly reduced levels of attempted fraud, and cheaper international transfer rates.  There are now several affiliate programs that pay in e-gold. Earn e-gold by participating in these programs. You first of all need to open an E-gold Account if you do not have one. Then go to the affiliate programs listings. Select the one you want to promote, sign-up and earn. Merchants who wish to start accepting digital currencies for payment can find help from several companies that provide integrations services for e-commerce sites. Or the merchant can do it himself by consulting the payment API’s for e-gold, Standard Reserve, and GoldMoney. People The primary obstacle to free trade on the Internet has been the lack of a simple person to person payment system. Since most individuals cannot accept credit card payments how do you send money to someone in another town or on the other side of the world?  Private digital currencies such as e-gold and others provide a simple, reliable, and secure way to make payments from one person to another via the Internet, mobile phone, or PDA.

Gold has acted as a reliable "store of value" because it fulfills the functions of money: It's portable and divisible. Its weight is a good measurement of a unit of value. It's indestructible, relatively scarce, and cannot be "manufactured"   In addition it is easily recognizable and readily acceptable as a form of payment.

Furthermore, Standard Transactions now makes it possible for individuals to have their paychecks directly deposited into a digital currency account, from which they can withdraw their money from ATM machines around the world, or spend it online as a digital currency. 

There are several auction systems where individual auctioneers are using e-gold or other digital currencies for payment. A list of known auctions is provided at this link  - 

Tens of thousands of people now hold and use Gold digital currencies. This is about to explode as new developments are implemented the world over.
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