What is Gold MoneyGoldMoney is a digital gold currency founded in 2001 by James Turk. The main office and servers are located in Jersey, one of the Channel Islands. GoldMoney allows the instant transfer of gold between user holdings.
As of June 30, 2006, GoldMoney was storing over $135.0 million of value with 176,600 troy ounces (5,490 kg) of gold in storage, which was worth $108.0 million; and 2,666,445 troy ounces (82,935.7 kg) of silver, worth $28.5 million at the time.
As of June 30 2008, GoldMoney was storing over $387.0 million of value with 252,594 troy ounces (7,856.6 kg) of gold in storage, which was worth $235.0 million; and 7,469,914 troy ounces (232,340.3 kg) of silver, worth $131.8 million.
Asset protection
All gold and silver is stored in a vault in Shepperton, England or Zurich, Switzerland. The vaults are owned and operated by VIA MAT International Ltd. The metal is insured by Lloyd's of London. The Euro-Dutch Trust Companyverifies and approves all increases and decreases of precious metals in GoldMoney's database. Deloitte and Touche LLP, GoldMoney's external auditors, complete periodic system reviews using stringent standards, such as SAS 70 Type II, and an annual audit report available to GoldMoney customers.
The quantity of gold and silver in the GoldMoney database, which functions as currency, is always equal to the amount of gold stored in the vaults. All gold and silver is owned by the owner of the GoldMoney holding. Payments are instantaneous and non-refundable. This payment process is ensured through a system of internal controls and governance for which GoldMoney has four patents with one pending. Because bullion is titled in the Holding owner's name and because payments are instantaneous and non-refundable therefore the use of GoldMoney as a currency removes Herstatt Risk, which is endemic in the current banking structure, from the transaction and in effect eliminates settlement and counter-party risk.
Fees
GoldMoney derives revenue from two main types of fees: Holding and Exchange. Holding fees are for gold storage (0.15-0.18% per annum charged monthly with 100 mils or about $2.98 minimum), silver storage (0.87-0.99% per annum charged monthly with 0.2oz minimum), payments (10-100 mils), and the service and management of customer segregated funds (0.25% per annum paid monthly and deducted from interest earned). Exchange fees are for of gold purchases (0.98%-3.74%), silver purchases (1.99%-5.24%), gold sales (currently no fee), silver sales (currently no fee), metal-to-metal exchanges (0.78%-3.99%), and currency-to-currency exchanges (0.49%).
-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GoldMoney
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