News Note from a Reader - Bitgold and GoldMoney Merge

A reader here sent me this news note. Below are his comments on what this merger means for those who have interest in holding gold as part of their portfolio. One note, this is not the asset backed digital currency that  I have talked about before here on the blog. 

It appears this would allow people to own gold and then use the balance in their gold account to do normal business transactions with a regular credit card or ATM card along with apps for mobile use as well. We will keep an eye out for more news on BitGold as this could be a digital currency that breaks some new ground for those who want to hedge their local currency but still have access to liquid funds.

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Reader comment:

Thought this might interest you.  GoldMoney bought BitGold.  This creates an international gold backed banking account with the ability to use a credit card in the traditional system, use ATM, and transfer money in any currency. Its also integrated with ApplePay. 

Below is the news announcement from Gold Money

BitGold and GoldMoney Join Forces 0.01% Fee All Weekend Dear GoldMoney customer, Today, we announced the acquisition and merger of GoldMoney Network Limited with BitGold Inc. forming the world's largest and oldest bullion money service with over 60,000 active customers and $1.5 billion in assets under management. BitGold Inc. is a publicly traded company on the Toronto Stock Exchange Venture under the symbol (XAU). GoldMoney's existing board members, founder James Turk, Geoff Turk, Mahendra Naik, and Hector Fleming will also be joining the listed company's board. What you can expect as a GoldMoney customer? Over the next few months, you will begin to experience a wide range of features and service improvements including: Reduced fees on dealing; A plastic debit card allowing to spend your gold balance at any traditional point of sale, where credit/debit cards are accepted or to withdraw local currency from any traditional ATM; The world's first 24 KT gold plated debit card for customers with over $100,000 in their Holding; A mobile application for iPhone, Android and Blackberry, allowing full dealing and payments capabilities (Apple Pay integrated); An enhanced customer experience with updated payment methods (fund your account with credit card, ACH or SEPA); Free global payments (for non-US resident customers); Physical redemption in as little as 10 gram increments (GoldMoney Cubes); Multilingual website in 12 languages We will be making all these enhancements while never compromising the integrity and security that you have grown accustomed to. Everything you have loved about GoldMoney will continue to exist. The combination brings a tremendous amount of access to capital, building a more solid financial base than ever, as well as the integrity, transparency, and reputation value of being a publicly traded entity. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ added note: Some readers informed me that it appears based on item #6 above that US customers may not have the "free global payments" feature available (at least initially). Here is a comment from one reader on that:  "As a customer of Goldmoney I believe this merger with Bitgold has the potential to become a match made in heaven. It fulfills the founders wishes to make gold a liquid form of money. Unfortunately the information sheet indicates this will not initially be available to US citizens. Hopefully that issue will be resolved shortly.  My concern is on the financial tracking system. Will the software be technically able to asses the capital gain/ loss on every credit card transaction for every customer? If not, the clients annual Federal income tax calculations will far exceed what is already an onerous paper nightmare."