Alan"s Money Blog

Jul 16, 2007

C-gold’s Star Is On The Rise





Another successful digital gold currency operation is now emerging with c-gold.com. It is always great to see healthy competition any industry or business, but with today’s regulatory environment it is especially exciting to watch c-gold showing early signs as a possible leader.

c-goldHeadquartered in Malaysia, c-gold is opening new possibilities for all person’s interested in doing business with gold and digital gold.

When recently asked about the jurisdiction of the c-gold business, the operator had this to say:

WHY MALAYSIA?

Several reasons, firstly the government did in the past just about endorse e-dinar.com before it moved from Labuan to Dubai. In other words, the government did signal it’s interest in supporting the concept.

Secondly, rule of law. I can’t figure any way on God’s green Earth that any Malaysian court would hand down a forfeiture order against an operator when the value attached doesn’t belong to the operator. From following various kinds of AML legislation and enforcements, etc. over the years, I came to trust that in Malaysia law enforcement will first ask “how” and especially “why”, before deciding if further action is warranted.

Our local company has been doing arbitrage in the DGC business for years, and all the authorities want to know is that we know our customers, keep proper records and have strict AML procedures. Other that than, despite currency exchange controls, because of the nature of our business, there has been no problem or hindrance with literally receiving and sending millions of dollars from and to foreign banks every year. We file the reports, the central bank sees where the money is from and what it’s for, and that’s that. THIS is how things should be everywhere, and it is how they ARE in Malaysia.

Thirdly, we have the whole infrastructure already in place in Malaysia. While c-gold is in fact NOT owned by a Malaysian company, our local company DOES act as custodian of the gold and ensures smooth bailment’s and redemptions under an outsourcing agreement that is in line with what we have been doing all along and what the company here was incorporated for.

Fourthly, Malaysia is simply a great place to live and do business, Taxes are reasonably, cost of living is comparably low, and Malaysians never give you the feeling of being an outsider. I honestly admire the country and its people for what they have achieved.

Lastly, Malaysia is billing itself as a Muslim country, even though it practices a very liberal and tolerant interpretation of the religion and about 40% of the population follow other religions. A Muslim country can not possibly outlaw the possession of gold, nor can it forbid using gold as a tool for payments between private parties. **


The idea is simple, set up locations for bailment and redemption of physical-to-digital gold. Safeguard the stored gold and allow 100% of the digital Internet value of that asset to be used for personal, financial or business matters. If a user wants the physical gold back all they would have to do is walk into any of the locations and pick up their bar or request the gold be shipped. Transactions can be handled by snail mail or courier.

Anyone can send in or drop off a gold bar and instantly recognize its actual value in a digital account. C-gold makes it possible to use that ‘captured’ gold value in today’s digital economy. Deposit and spend your grams online to go shopping, pay bills, send money to loved ones or simply accomplish daily business with your clients. Management says they might soon accept smaller denominations of gold deposits like one ounce coins.

Just a few weeks old they have more then 800 accounts and 6 kilos of gold on deposit. While their stats show barely a dozen ‘funded’ accounts, this is still a very impressive number for a new start up.

Also keep in mind that this organization, unlike some other popular digital gold companies does require customer verification and has a strong AML policy.

Gold is an asset with global value. While financial markets will rise and fall gold will always be around. You cannot create gold and you also cannot destroy gold, its elemental. It’s asset value was recognized thousands of years ago just as it is today.

The management of c-gold is smart to recognize & capitalize on the growing global marketplace of people who want to use gold as a means of transacting business. There is a powerful measure of safety in digital gold that you cannot get from any national currency. The shiny yellow metal transcends language, race, age, gender, personal bias or business history. Anyone can always exchange gold for its true asset value.

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