In the light of recent developments in the digital gold market, with companies like e gold being indicted and the  US government taking a hardline against some of them because of moneylaundering and unregulated illegal practices going unchecked, what do you think the future of these alternative currencies or digital currencies are ?

Can the US govt and others force them out of business as some believe?

We value your opinion here on www.digitalmoneyworld.com and both Mark and Benson have written here on digital gold extensively in the past.

DGC Magazine Blog

http://www.dgcmagazine.com/blog/index.php

• 
• Author: Mark Herpel
• Listed in: Finance Innovation
• Tags: gold e-gold e-bullion pecunix e-currency digital gold currency

So what do you think about this issue? Please let us know.

Comment below

Moneypenny

Last week I asked you to design the online payment system called edream you wanted as Here on www.digitalmoneyworld we regularly hear readers complaining about the services ( or lack of them) offered by e payments companies like moneybookers, paypal, e gold, loom, and the rest. In response, Sean over at franchise pick; a blog I never tire of reading, responded with a killah post not to be missed, with his usual wit and humour.

http://www.franchisepick.com/franchisepickcom-announces-esean-payment-processing-system/

So here’s the question, if you were to design the e payments system that you want and need, what would it look like?

What services would it offer that you are missing now?

How would you improve on existing options offered to customers?

What limitations that you presently have to endure would you do away with and what would you replace them with?

Lets call it e dream

The prize? a deposit of seed money into your a paypal account in your name to start your new business. Yes you heard right! seed money into your own account.

Now rumour has it that Sean is pretty confident of winning this are you going to let him? So send yours in today guys, your best ideas for a payment system.

The prize will be awarded at the end of July. get yours in!

So write to Moneypenny under comments below and let’s have your e dream e payments blueprint. The best one will be voted on and will win a prize of seed money into a paypal account!

Moneypenny

Last week I asked you to design the online payment system called edream you wanted as I regularly hear readers complaining about the services ( or lack of them) offered by e payments companies like moneybookers, paypal, e gold, loom, and the rest. In response, Sean over at franchise pick; a blog I never tire of reading, responded with a killah post not to be missed, with his usual wit and humour.

http://www.franchisepick.com/franchisepickcom-announces-esean-payment-processing-system/

So here’s the question, if you were to design the e payments system that you want and need, what would it look like?

What services would it offer that you are missing now?

How would you improve on existing options offered to customers?

What limitations that you presently have to endure would you do away with and what would you replace them with?

Lets call it e dream

The prize? a deposit of seed money into your a paypal account in your name to start your new business. Yes you heard right! seed money into your own account.

Now rumour has it that Sean is pretty confident of winning this and are you going to let him?

So send yours in today guys your best ideas for a payment system.

The prize will be awarded at the end of July. get yours in!

So write to Moneypenny under comments below, or to my soon to launch blog www.wisequeen.com and let’s have your e dream e payments blueprint. The best one will be voted on and will win a prize of seed money into a paypal account!

Moneypenny

Since I started writing about and following gold currencies, e currencies and e shares, I’m always amazed at how badly these companies maintain communication with their shareholders, and how anything that is said or questioned about a  particular company is always interpreted as sabotage by their competitors.

DIGITAL CURRENCY BUSINESS E-GOLD INDICTED FOR MONEY LAUNDERING AND …

Given the nature of the e currencies business, unpredictible as it is, regular updates from e gold, should be forthcoming. Especially in the light of their  recent indictment, one would think they had a duty to their many clients with collective millions invested to address their concerns. Apparently not, in the unregulated area they operate in anything goes, and “when the -you know what- hits the fan”, they claim it is a smear campaign and just a false PR release. How could anyone outside the inner circle really know?

Are you invested in e gold? What do you think? Are they bankrupt?

send us your comments

Moneypenny

(Digital Money World) There was a fake PR release report of e-Gold on it being bankrupt a few days ago at PRweb. It was gone when I was given the url by Mark to peek.

Never ever trust releases unless they’re from the official source (say the blog or the official e-Gold site itself), though I kinda get the hunch that most of e-Gold users are really worried about its future when we think of the indictment that they’re facing.

Well, since there’re no bad news and with e-Gold switching primary dealer, we can definitely be sure that there’s something going on behind the scene and hopefully for the better. Hope e-Gold’s blog isn’t just a place for them to update on the system maintenance though.

Dr. Jackson became really quiet after his first few virgin blog entries on the blog. Wish we could gain more of his insights of the situation and future that e-Gold is facing now very much though.

Who are we?
The London Gold Exchange is the World’s largest and most established trader of Digital Gold and Silver (also known as e-currency, Digital Currency or e-money). We are a reputable independent international business with offices in Europe and Asia/Pacific.

What do we do?
We are a licensed and accredited Digital Gold and Silver Exchange Provider (or Market Maker). Our service gives you a quick, easy and most importantly, safe method to get DG&S in or out of your account. We have years of e-commerce experience and pride ourselves on our superb customer service. View client testimonials

Why are we different?
We focus only on Digital Gold, Digital Silver and Digital Currency and can offer you an unrivalled experience. We supply c-gold, e-gold, e-Bullion, Pecunix, Web Money and Liberty Reserve. Our unique ‘Members Only’ secure web site is designed to be simple and easy to use. We have a proven track record for speed and reliability and our members return again and again.

Why use us?
Members benefit from our competitive rates and can easily (after verification) send funds to us via domestic Internet bank transfers, International bank wire to our multi-currency International bank, deposit cash or transfer money using Western Union and MoneyGram. We offer a simple, fast & efficient service.

We welcome International orders from all corners of the globe.

Follow our easy steps to Buy, Sell or Convert Digital Gold Currency.

This is but one example I found on the web of digital gold trading,

but I have questions like others have about digital gold. Let’s take e bullion as an example. I sat down with three leading financial advisors and they had these questions  and many others too. So don’t shoot me I’m only the piano player, Yes I’ve read the sites.

Let’s start with e bullion, It’s headquartered in Delaware that rings a bell, the associations are not good.

But maybe that isn’t an issue though.

Next question: what do some of these statements mean? This one for example.

Can I take delivery of e-Bullion^®?
Yes. You may take possession of your e-Bullion^® through the primary funding/withdrawal processor for e-Bullion^®.  Currently that is Goldfinger Coin and Bullion Inc.  There is a small fee involved for converting e-Bullion^® to physical delivery. This is known as a redemption premium and will vary according to the type and amount of metal you wish to redeem.

What does physical delivery mean? That if I want my gold bars you’ll drop them off or DHL them. I don’t think so.

My biggest question however is that my digital shares are not linked to the current market value of gold. Why?

Are ebullion trading gold? Sure they must be, but why use gold to back the digital funds if it has no relation to gold’s current market value on the commodities market.?

Every US dollar was once underwitten by gold in the days of “in gold we trust” now the dollar says “in God we trust”.So this is not a strange concept.

Why are e-Bullion^® services not offered in some areas?
Some states and jurisdictions may require the acquisition of a specialized business license under local law, in connection with some of the services we offer. Rather than bearing the administrative burden of meeting these multiple licensing requirements, we choose not to offer e-Bullion^® services in those areas.

944.09

That’s the current gold price listed on the Londongoldexchange site. I have one question, why link the actual price of real gold to digital gold? Does the investor take delivery of real gold, or shares in real gold or silver held in a vault? This is the question I and other financial brokers have about trading in e gold and others. And what is a market maker? Perhaps Benson or Mark over at DGC who have traded in digital gold, can educate us better.

Have a comment?  want to answer some of these questions from our readers. Please answer below.

Moneypenny

I blogged yesterday about the those that have written into me about a fake moneybookers scam.

http://www.bizzia.com/adding-value/

Adding value read this and comment on it if you have suggestions.

These people were scammed because they received an email identical to the moneybookers one and took it as the original, it was actually a faked page which looked identical.

Today I want to talk about online security with moneybookers, pay pal and others.

What should you expect to receive from them?

Rule number one

Any mail you get, first check the address it came from, that’s the first clue. Mark spam as spam and delete it out of your spam folder daily.

Rule number 2

Never click on a link, but rather type the address www.paypal.com or moneybookers.com straight into your browser window. Then you can’t be misdirected. Check the page you are logging into it should look right, dont rush. Never update your details on a form you’re not certain about. These scams continue because people fail to to do this, they know they will catch someone.

Rule number 3

If you don’t have a bank account with that bank or payment company, don’t open the mail. You don’t get an account by accident.

Follow these simple rules everytime and scams will suffer, not you.

Care to comment? share this with everyone you know.

Be safe online, Moneypenny

This is a kind of unofficial poll to find out which online payment company is rated best.

These are the criteria:

1. ease of use, functionality and options.

2. service level, charges/cost and market share.

3. security, support and reliability.

4. ethical, regulated and financially sound company.

So which online payment company does these best for you.

Leave a comment and tell us your experience for the benefit of our readers.

Moneypenny

I remember as an investment broker not so long ago, my clients and peers talking about ethical investments. Exercising your ethical choice in investments was becoming mainstream and even clients were talking about it.

Contrast this with the Elliot Spitzer case recently. He didn’t seem to care that prostitution and the crimes always linked with it, where being funded by him. He possibly said - I’m O.k. I’m not hurting anyone.

The IRS’s Criminal Investigation Division then started a probe, initially fearing that Spitzer was the victim of either extortion or identity theft.

Screenshot of the website of Emperors Club VIP showing list of prices for escort services

Image from wiki

North Fork’s report in July 2007 went largely unnoticed until HSBC in the fall filed a report that the transactions were going to QAT International and QAT Consulting Group, which were offshore shell companies operating as a front for the Emperors Club.

Later the IRS contacted the FBI to investigate possible political corruption. The investigation led Federal authorities to link the money transfers to the Emperors Club.

On November 19, 2007, Republican operative Roger Stone sent a letter to the FBI saying that Spitzer “used the service of high-priced call girls” while in Florida.

Spitzer announced on March 12 that he would resign his post as Governor effective March 17, amid threats of his impeachment by state lawmakers.

So what’s happened to the ethics questions we used to ask, like: Was the company involved in mining practices that affected the environment? Did that company operate sweatshops in cheap-labour countries. Was the company involved in money laundering, pornography, tobacco, alcohol etc?

Whilst some of this talk and campaigning has been replaced by the fair trade movement, which when it works, I do applaud, what has happened to our own ethics?

Do we care how that money we got out of an investment was made?

Did it involve a pyramid scheme or scams where someone was robbed of their hard earned money, or was the money got from trading in guns, drugs or people trafficking? These are the questions banks have to ask in the bigger picture, and perhaps we should be asking them too in the smaller picture of our choices.

What do you think? Who does your research about where to put your money or what to invest in?

Does it matter to you what the e company/gold company/ web money/ company you use invests in or derives its profits from? Give us your view under comments

Moneypenny

 (Digital Money World) Come on, anyone is just making privacy a tough thing to preserve with such kind of post. Web Money gets mentioned on an anti-child porn tactic being one of the alternative online money to be used in child pornography..  But does that make Web Money and also e-Gold guilty of what kind of service they’re providing for people who seeks privacy? Your call.

From Washington Post,

The decision yesterday by three Internet service providers to block access to online child pornography is the latest in a series of steps by companies and government officials to curb the distribution of such materials. But a report to be published later this month questions whether such actions are making it more difficult to track users.

 

The report, by the Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography, formed by credit card issuers and Internet service providers to cut off funding for these crimes, states that the efforts are pushing child pornographers toward unregulated Web companies that allow anonymity in purchases.

“One of the first things that happened when we began shutting down the credit card avenue is that these guys began to look to other ways to get money quickly,” said Ernie Allen, president and chief executive of the National Center for Missing & Exploited

 

Many purchasers of child pornography have turned to alternative payment systems to skirt U.S. laws, cyber-crime experts and law enforcement officials said. Unlike traditional banks, these systems allow users to accept and remit payments without revealing their identities.

For example, a user might submit funds to a currency exchange company, many of which are in foreign countries. That company, which would not require proof of identity, would then facilitate the transfer of funds to an online payment company, akin to PayPal, that allows transactions over the Web. From there, the money would be sent to the pornography site, allowing the user access without risk of being named.

One such payment system singled out in the report is WebMoney, an online currency company based in Belize and widely used in Europe. WebMoney users can fund their accounts through a variety of means, including bank wires, money orders and cash deposits at authorized exchange offices around the globe.

WebMoney did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Mark Schopper, a lawyer in Reno, Nev., has written about the use of alternative payment systems to facilitate money laundering through gambling sites. He said the use of a similar payment system for buyers of child pornography is granting them more cover.

“The government says that we don’t want people to have legitimate means to promote or pay for this kind of material, but the flip side of that is that if Uncle Sam were to let this alone, they could more easily track the consumers of this material through the credit card system,” Schopper said. “In the end, all they’re doing is pushing both industries further underground.”

Government efforts to disrupt alternative currency services have not proven successful, critics say.

In 2005, FBI agents raided the Florida offices of E-Gold, an online payment system whereby users convert currency into precious metals. Some company officials were indicted on charges of conspiracy, money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transfer business. They are accused of allowing the service to be used by criminals running financial scams and selling child pornography.

Cyber-crime experts and some law enforcement officials acknowledge that the scrutiny brought by the government’s case against E-Gold prompted child pornography consumers who were using the service to migrate to other payment systems.

“Once E-Gold was dealt with by federal law enforcement, another 50 to 60 online payment services suddenly popped up out of nowhere to fill the void,” said Tom Kellermann, chairman of the financial coalition’s technology group.

I can’t agree to this article. Your critic?