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'''[[Sils, Girona|Sils]]''' is the name of a municipality in the [[Comarques of Catalonia|''comarca'']] of [[Selva]] in Catalonia.
{{lowercase|title=ֹe-gold}}
[[Image:e-gold.gif|right|Logo for e-gold Ltd]]
'''e-gold''' is a [[digital gold currency]] operated by Gold & Silver Reserve Inc. under e-gold Ltd., and is a system which allows the instant transfer of gold ownership between users. The corporation was founded in 1996 by Dr. [[Douglas Jackson]] and [[Barry K. Downey]] [http://www.e-gold.com/unsecure/aboutus.html]. There are over two million e-gold accounts. About one quarter of those are active [http://e-gold.com/stats.html].
'''Sils''' is the name of following municipalities in the canton of [[Graubünden]], Switzerland:
As of November 2005 there are typically 50,000 e-gold spends each day, with a total value each day of about six million USD (that is, about 350 kilograms of gold).
*[[Sils im Engadin/Segl]], consisting of [[Sils-Maria]] und [[Sils-Baselgia]] (Romansh: ''Segl'')
e-gold has grown dramatically through 2005. Firstly, the total amount of gold bars (over three tonnes) in the e-gold system is approaching the size of the national reserves of smaller countries. Secondly, e-gold itself is now generating a substantial income from spend fees: it costs a few cents to make each e-gold "spend" and e-gold itself now earns well over a million USD per annum from spend fees. Thirdly, the use of e-gold as a currency is no longer a novelty, as indicated by the 50,000 spends a day figure.
*[[Sils im Domleschg]] (Romansh: ''Seglias'')
{{geodis}}
Many (at least ten) small businesses in the USA, Europe and Asia, each with staff and real incomes now operate as "exchange providers," doing nothing other than buying and selling e-gold for "national currencies," as "gold bugs" would style the Euro, Pound, Yen and US Dollar.
[[de:Sils]]
As well as digital gold, e-gold also offer e-silver, e-palladium and e-platinum, but only e-gold sees any use. The user may take physical delivery of the [[precious metal]] upon payment of an additional fee. In practice, most users permit the operator to store the metal. e-gold transactions - a "spend" - are completed electronically, usually using the web interface, and they always settle by weight of the metal even if denominated in some other way. A user may spend a tiny amount of gold (a tiny fraction of a gram), or kilograms of gold, to another user instantly.
[[fr:Sils]]
The present ___location (for example, a specific vault in Switzerland) of the actual gold bars and their serial numbers and other data can be seen using the live "Examiner" function on the e-gold web site.
Even though e-gold does not advocate any particular political agenda, as the [[Liberty Dollar]] does for example, e-gold could be viewed as a [[Libertarianism|libertarian]] system of money. e-gold is careful not to advocate any politics, but in reality almost all "[[gold bug|digital gold bug]]s," including e-gold founders and staff, are [[anarcho-capitalism|anarcho-capitalists]], "Randians," "Sovereign Individuals," "PTs" (i.e. [[Perpetual traveler]]), or some other variety of libertarian.
== Features ==
=== Convenience ===
e-gold spends are cheaper, often much cheaper, than traditional forms of payment, particularly international forms of payment. e-gold spends clear instantly, in contrast to [[cheque]]s or [[credit card]] transactions. Unlike other online payment systems such as [[PayPal]], there are no distinctions between merchant and non-merchant e-gold accounts. Anyone can create a "merchant account" (there is only one type of account) instantly. All e-gold accounts carry the same fees and have the same capacity to receive and transmit e-gold account holdings.
=== Asset protection ===
Proponents of the e-gold system contend that e-gold assets are protected against [[inflation]], [[devaluation]] and other possible economic risks inherent in [[fiat currency|fiat currencies]]. These risks include what are perceived by e-gold proponents as harmful actions by national governments and central banks that diminish the value of assets held in fiat currencies. Also, many proponents of the e-gold system believe that e-gold offers a truly international and decentralized currency which is unattached to a [[central bank]] of a particular country or territory.
There is also no way of having [[transactions]] reversed, even in case of a legitimate error or an unauthorized spend (see [[#Security and fraud|below]]). e-gold's Terms of Use stipulate that all spends are final and e-gold cannot be held responsible for any spend. In this respect, an e-gold spend is more akin to a [[cash]] transaction while [[PayPal]] transfers, for example, could be considered more similar to [[credit card]] transactions.
== Growth rate ==
The number of e-gold accounts (as claimed by e-gold) grew from 1 million in November 2003 to just under 2.5 million in November 2005. That growth rate represents a compound growth rate of 58% per annum. This high growth rate has been sustained by e-gold almost since inception. [http://www.e-gold.com/stats.html]
== Criticism ==
=== Inconvenience ===
Compared to other systems like [[PayPal]], the process of buying e-gold can be confusing to a person unfamiliar with the e-gold system. Unlike some digital currency operators like [[e-Bullion]], e-gold Ltd. does not sell digital currency directly to the user. According to their website the reason they do this is so there can be no debt or contingent liabilities associated with the business, making e-gold Ltd. absolutely free of any financial risk. They claim e-gold Ltd. does not possess currency of any nation or even have a bank account. Instead numerous [[digital gold currency exchange]]s, such as [[OmniPay]] (a sister company of e-gold), act as [[market maker]]s selling e-metal in exchange for fiat currency and a transaction fee. Conversely, these exchange providers will sell fiat currency in exchange for e-metal, and a transaction fee. In this manner e-metals can be converted back and forth to a variety of fiat currencies of different countries. The amount of a particular fiat currency or e-metal necessary to complete a transaction is determined by the then current spot price of the metal in relation to the value of the fiat currency.
=== Security and fraud ===
As an online service, e-gold is vulnerable to various threats, notably [[phishing]] (for example, forged emails asking for login details) and spyware.
In the early years of e-gold, this problem was widely reported to be rampant. The problem could have been due to the novelty of the system, combined with the irreversibility of payments, combined with the hardness of gold as money, combined with many of the early users being "gold bugs" rather than technically-oriented computer users.
Fortunately around early 2004, this problem seemed to be largely eliminated at a stroke, by e-gold adding a simple IP checking process for spends. (This has often been cited as a good example of how extremely simple solutions to security problems can often have big results.)
Some competing DGCs offer similar features to combat typical, simple, "mass" phishing attacks. Pecunix has an extremely secure, somewhat complicated, log-in procedure. 1mdc has a simple PIN-pad addition. GoldMoney allows user certificates to be used. Most systems include optionally an "email confirmation" type of process. All of these approaches thwart simple keystroke loggers.
A recent [http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-fi-keyloggers18sep18,1,5607754.story LA Times] article reported on a specially created [[Trojan horse (computing)|trojan]] compromised "dozens" to "the low hundreds" of e-gold accounts. While trojans usually silently record the login details of the unsuspecting user, the trojan in question ([http://www.lurhq.com/grams.html Win32.Grams]) emptied the accounts themselves by transferring the contents to presumably the attacker's accounts.
e-gold has also notoriously been the medium of choice for many online con-artists. [[Pyramid scheme]]s and fraudulent investment programs, usually called HYIPs ("High Yield Investment Programs"), are commonplace. This is presumably due (at least in part) to e-gold maintaining its policy of irreversibility of e-gold transactions.
(Indeed, the hot question about e-gold right now is: "where do all the spends come from?" Traditionally, cynics have asserted that almost all e-gold spends are HYIP-related. However, this notion is becoming less tenable due to the number and value of transactions now seen daily.)
Most e-gold exchange providers require a high level of identification, often more intrusive than a bank.
=== Regulatory challenges ===
E-gold Ltd. was registered in [[Nevis]], [[West Indies]] in 1999, but was removed from the register in 2003 [http://www.nevisfinance.com/Announcements.cfm?Idz=4&MIdz=36]. As such it appears to be an unregistered entity.
In September 2004 several Australian e-gold currency exchanges ceased operation due to stricter application of Financial Services Licencing regulations. Whilst [[digital gold currency exchange]]s can still operate in Australia many have found it impractical. Exchange agents that were closed down by [[Australian Securities and Investments Commission]] (ASIC) include goldex.net, sydneygoldsales.com and ozzigold.com [http://www.fido.asic.gov.au/fido/fido.nsf/byheadline/04-366+ASIC+acts+to+shut+down+electronic+currency+trading+websites?openDocument].
=== Backing ===
[[image:Gold ingots.jpg|thumb|200px|right|e-gold is, according to the e-gold website, "100% backed by gold"]]
As of November 2005, it is unclear if e-gold has an auditor of the physical bars, so there is no way of knowing if e-gold Ltd. really has the gold to back the currency in the e-gold system. e-gold does maintain an "Examiner", a [[web page]] with updated statistics on outstanding liabilities and the total amount of each precious metal in its holding. While proponents generally consider this assuring enough, critics remain skeptical.
Also, since all e-gold is in fact a physical [[commodity]], to wit, gold, it is subject to the price fluctuations of that commodity. If the price of gold drops, the value (in Euros or US Dollars) of your gold in e-gold drops. The account balance, which is denominated in grams of gold, does not change, but its buying power in local currency will change with the price of gold.
This can, of course, work both ways. Proponents of the e-gold system would argue that the risk of significant price fluctuation is small compared to the risk of value fluctuations among fiat currencies. The opposite argument is that a typical user is more affected by changes in the price of e-gold than of fiat currencies; this is because most people are paid in and spend their local currency, while the use of e-gold will typically involve a foreign exchange transaction each time. In both cases, long-term shifts in the price of a currency or e-gold affect its owner, but anyone who frequently buys and sells e-gold will be exposed to short-term fluctuations as well. The price of gold has happened to increase over the past five years, [http://kitco.com/LFgif/au3650nyb.gif] so this factor has worked out to the advantage of anyone holding e-gold over that period.
=== eBay prohibits buyers from paying through e-gold ===
Beginning January 2006, [[eBay]] has restricted buyers and sellers from using any online payment system, except for [[PayPal]]. eBay specifically named e-gold as one of the online payment systems that will result in them cancelling a seller's account if used [http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/safe-payments-policy.html]. e-gold runs a non-reversible transaction policy, meaning that there is no protection for purchasers if vendors fail to supply goods.
== See also ==
*[[Anarcho-capitalism]]
*[[Digital gold currency]]
*[[Digital gold currency exchange]]
*[[Gold as an investment]]
*[[Gold Standard]]
*[[PayPal]]
*[[Liberty Dollar]]
== External links and references ==
<!-- PLEASE NOTE: e-gold users can place a referral link on a website to generate a few cents in referral income: it appears that various Wiki editors continually modify the links to e-gold's web site contained in this article, so that the link includes their referral key. Such referral links have been erased scores of times, but they always reappear. In fact, if you are new to e-gold and you do click on someone else's referral link, it is harmless and does not cost you money, so you do not lose in any way when performing future e-gold transactions. It is hard work continually removing these referral links which appear here, however readers should be aware it is harmless to click on these "referral links," if you do click on one accidentally. -->
*[http://www.e-gold.com Official e-gold website]
*[http://www.nevisfinance.com/Announcements.cfm?Idz=4&MIdz=36 Warning from Nevis Financial Services] that "E-Gold Limited... was struck from the register of companies on July 31, 2003 for non-payment of fees"
*[http://www.omnipay.com/default.asp OmniPay] - e-gold DGC provider run by G&SR Inc., which is also the operator of the e-gold payment system.
*[http://indomitus.net/2004status.html#egold The Indomitus Report]
*[http://www.lurhq.com/grams.html Security report on Win32.Grams phishing]
*[http://www.e-praca.net/e-gold.html About e-gold in Polish language]
*[http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.01/egold.html Wired magazine article (January 2002) article on e-gold and e-dinar]
*[http://www.financial-spread-betting.com/E-gold.html e-gold review]
*[http://www.earn-e-gold.com/articles-1-1.html Article about e-gold]
*[http://www.galmarley.com/ Galmarley.com] - Gold prices, facts, figures & research
[[Category:Payment systems]]
[[Category:Digital gold currencies]]
[[id:E-gold]]
[[ru:E-gold]]
[[de:E-Gold]]
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