Mr. Larry Hilton, an attorney and insurance salesman who authored the Utah Sound Money Act is quoted in Gehrke's article as believing that "...Utah's transition to a gold-and-silver economy, according to Hilton, involves letting private individuals mint their own coins in various denominations that could be used for day-to-day transactions." It's not clear if this is still Mr. Hilton's point of view or Gehrke wants us to believe it. Unfortunately, this strategy might have worked in the 1970's, but today's everyday financial world runs on digital money, Internet payments, SMS and iPhone apps. In June of this year, PayPal President Scott Thompson predicted that within three years (2015) credit cards and a physical wallet could be obsolete. He said, "We believe that by 2015 digital currency will be accepted everywhere in the U.S. --- from your local corner store to Walmart. We will no longer need to carry a wallet." The future of money in America will be digital as in "digital currency"(not coins) ...the denomination of any payment can be scaled down to less than a penny. A tenth of an ounce American Gold Eagle coin today costs about $240, it's not likely you would be paying for your morning coffee with this small gold coin. I'm sorry Mr. Hilton but no one, and I mean no one, will be carrying a pocket full of heavy precious metal. It's just not safe or practical.
In a digital gold currency system, the precious metal coins are held securely in a vault insured and protected. Digital units are issued against those deposits. The value of those units fluctuates each day with the price of the metal, but users have an accurate price on each accounts as the market changes. It is not, nor should it ever be the merchants responsibility to know or calculate the daily price of gold. This can and is done electronically.
As gold enters the vault from a local Utah person's deposit, units are created and issued to them. This process is called digital minting. It was created in the 1990's and has been successfully used each day since that time. Millions of transactions take place each day using digitally minted units backed by precious metal.
To those smart minds in Utah, and to the journalists who like reporting on this stuff; please stop speculating on what "you" think might work for Utah. Don't keep going to the kitchen looking for the "really sharp" knife. Ask the experts. Compare and examine the successful private legal digital currencies around the globe. Please look at the digital gold currency systems which have been working flawlessly for the past 10-12 years. We know who built the software, you can get right on the phone today with them. We know who operates the systems. Additionally, these professionals employ lawyers and accounting firms that have worked with digital gold for years. Audits, insurance, accounting...this has all be done before and can be recreated in Utah. Digital gold has been successful before, please seek out the advice of the experts. Stop trying to reinvent the wheel. We have already have mastered the daily use of precious metal as money. Digital gold systems work and they will work well in Utah. I've had dozens and dozens of ATM cards and MasterCards over the last decade which were easily funded from a digital gold account. Copy success. Build or acquire an easy to use, transparent system of sound money commerce and protection for Utah businesses.
We have an iPad, smart phone, a standard cell phone and an Android tablet. While I'm out shopping at the mall and I can access all of my digital money and digital gold currency accounts from all of these devices. Yes, you can visit the coffee shop and pay for your morning coffee with digital gold using a cell phone. Just about any cell phone in operation today can safely access these digital metal accounts using something as simple as a java platform. All of this is possibly today, you can get on the phone next week with these operators & developers.
WebMoney Transfer permits 2 or 3 types of independent debit cards including a MasterCard to be linked to their system for instant funding, cash access and spending of the digital money(even backed by gold). E-gold Ltd. offered mobile payments as far back as the late 90's. Take a closer look back at e-gold's old technology....Gold got deposited with an insured vault, digital units are minted (created/issued) and accounts are accessed by the Internet and mobile devices. That was more than 10 years ago. We've been shopping with gold and conducting business with precious metal online for more then 10 years. These commercial platforms have all been perfected and are presently available for operators in Utah. The State does not need to be the operator. This style of digital gold commerce has been successful time and time again.
Please, Utah now has the laws in place, seek out the experts and make digital gold currency your next move.
Look at the facts:
1. No one carries a pocket of silver or gold around anymore. It's not safe or practical.
2. Digital gold accounts are accurately valued 24/7 based on global spot prices, there is no mystery to how a Troy ounce or a gram of gold is priced each day. ( http://dgcsc.org/goldprices.htm )
3. A digital gold account is divisible up to a thousandth of a gram. (that's less than a penny) This makes everyday commerce simple and convenient.
4. All of these digital metal accounts are accessible using today's mobile devices. iPhone, iPad, Android, cell phones etc.
5. FinCEN now categorizes digital gold currency as a stored value product. The regulation and laws on operation are just similar to a stored value debit card operation. Compliance with new U.S. regulations would be simple. It is NOT a mystery.
Gehrke's article also provides some discussion and quotes from Richard K. Ellis, Utah's State Treasurer. Mr. Ellis, who seems like a fine man, took office less than 3 years ago after serving for nine years as Chief Deputy State Treasurer.
Gehrke writes that Ellis is "not ready" to handle this new type of business. It is also abundantly clear from Ellis's statements that he has literally NO experience with precious metals or any kind of digital gold currency system. From the article, Ellis says: "There are a lot of things that put the treasurer in the middle of it, but I'm not anxious to necessarily be in that role," and "I haven't tried to make preparations to [accept payments] because there's just not a practical way of making this work." We disagree.
My I remind all of you reading that no fiat money system ever created in the world, going back to the time of Ghengis Khan, has ever survived more than 40-50 years before collapsing. It's quite possible that in the next decade the Mr. Ellis's of the world will be required to "make this work".
It is also important to note that there is no major role for the State Treasurer in any private digital gold currency system except some licensing and oversight.
In a system like e-gold Ltd., payments are made to the State throughout the day, and at the end of the day one person working in a state office, can type a few keys to liquidate that metal balance into a simple bank transfer to the State's bank. That's it. Sorry, but there are no heavy bags of metal to carry home each night.
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