DGC – Page 15 – — Covering digital currencies, precious metals and online payments

GATA’s Chris Powell explains the importance of gold price manipulation

Julia Dixon on December 20, 2012

“It’s the destruction of markets and it’s the manipulation of the value of all capital, labour and goods and services in the world.“

In a recent appearance on RT’s Capital Account GATA’s Chris Powell gave an excellent explanation of why market manipulation is an important issue.

“What they are doing is really [trying] to seize control of everything economic in the world. And really surreptitiously behind peoples backs. It’s an essentially tyrannical system, that is what we are trying to expose. “

GoldMoney’s Alasdair Macleod: Goodbye to Liberty

Julia Dixon on December 16, 2012

I think of money as simply a way to measure and store value, particularly the value of people’s time energy and effort. When the way in which you measure value is being manipulated and the method by which you store your productive value is being eroded, the implications for ‘liberty’ are frightening. This distortion of value is disruptive to people’s ability to interact with one another rationally and productively.

This frightful thought has not been lost on GoldMoney’s Alasdair Macleod who today writes “The US, UK, Europe and Japan are all implementing economic policies that must ultimately result in the complete destruction of their currencies; and if you destroy the means of exchange of goods and services, your people will starve.”

Blanchard Vault makes gold and silver ownership affordable

Julia Dixon on December 15, 2012

Blanchard Vault Inc is a new precious metals dealer based in Nevada that aims to provide “U.S. residents with an efficient and liquid way to buy, own and sell physical, 100% fine gold and silver bullion.”

Gold and silver purchased through Blanchard Vault are stored in 1-kilogram (32.15 oz) gold bars and 1,000 ounce silver bars. Customers can purchase an entire bar or a fraction of a bar, from as little as $25.

Dwolla continues to add new services

Julia Dixon on December 14, 2012

In the last month the on-line payments company has added two new service, guest checkout and payment via twitter.

Last month Dwolla solved the “chicken and the egg” problem by introducing a guest check out option.

Dwolla’s Jordan Lampe explains “One of the big pain points [for Dwolla] was that to make a payment online, you had to have a Dwolla account, and you had to have money in that account,… So what we’re doing with this is saying, ‘let’s cut ourselves out of the equation.’”

“Powered by Monetas”

Julia Dixon on December 10, 2012

Monetas is building software for a decentralized financial and legal system that is less dependent on traditional bankers and lawyers.

The business’ founders, Chris Odom (Fellow Traveler) and Johann Gevers aim to make this ‘financial system 2.0’ possible by developing commercial versions of the Open Transactions digital finance library. This software will allow digital finance entrepreneurs to startup micropayment services, financial markets, community currencies, escrow services, and many others all without depending on the traditional banking or legal system.

Johann, Monetas’ CEO, recently shared with me his thoughts on finance, his belief in decentralized systems and his plans for Monetas.

Read More about “Powered by Monetas”

Euro Pacific Bank Reduces its Gold and Silver Selling Fee from 4% to 0.5%

Julia Dixon on December 9, 2012

This is good news for customers using the bank’s gold or silver backed debit cards.

Currently, to use these cards you need to have a USD account with the bank and fund this account by selling your gold/silver. This fee reduction means it’s more economically viable for clients to sell their metals and load up their cards.

No Such Thing as a Bitcoin Bank

Julia Dixon on December 9, 2012

Bitcoin Central, a Bitcoin exchange based in France, has announced that they are the “first exchange licensed to operate as a bank.”

This is certainly exciting news for Bitcoin’s acceptance and ease of use, but one line in this announcement struck me. They clarified that they are not exactly a bank, but a payment services provider “which is basically the same as a bank, just without the debt-money issuing part.” That’s right; they can’t be a bank because they don’t create money out of thin air. After all they’re working with Bitcoins, it’s just not possible.

Korea buys gold to help it deal with “the international financial environment”

Julia Dixon on December 7, 2012

Central banks in the east, particularly china, have been increasing their gold stock for years. And now it seems Korea is joining the party as it purchased 14 tonnes of gold in November. This increases it gold reserves to 84.4 tonnes likely raising its ranking among central banks from 40th to 36th.

Business Week: Dollar-Less Iranians Discover Virtual Currency

Julia Dixon on December 1, 2012

As Hyperinflation continues in Iran, it seems that some Iranians have discovered a simple way out of the mess imposed on them by international politics, Bitcoin.

Bloomberg’s Business Week spoke to a few Iranians who have found a solution in Bitcoin. “Iranians are resorting to virtual currency to move money into and out of the country in a way that Western authorities find hard to detect.”

Assange tells RT that the internet has become a tool for totalitarian rule

Julia Dixon on December 1, 2012

In an interview with RT’s Laura Smith conducted in Ecuador’s London embassy, Assange says that nearly everything everyone does online is permanently recorded as it is cheaper to spy on everyone rather than single people out.

“We have this position where as we know knowledge is power, and there’s a mass transfer as a result of literally billions of interceptions per day going from everyone, the average person … all the infrastructure has been built for absolute totalitarianism It’s just the matter of turning the key.”