Liberty Reserve appears to be the leading digital gold currency in terms of patronage, at this time. It is popular especially in countries where credit/debit cards are not yet mainstream. It has the bulk of its users in Nigeria, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Vietnam, Ukraine, Belarus, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India, Egypt, Iran, Russia, China, Sweden, Colombia, Australia etc.
It is mainly used by forex broker companies, online merchants and clients who use Liberty Reserve gold (in addition to USD and Euro) based accounts to protect their assets.
Digital gold currency (or DGC) is a form of electronic money based on ounces of gold. The typical unit of account for such currency is the gold gram or the troy ounce. Many of the DGCs also offer storage denominated in currencies like US Dollar, Euro, British Pounds. DGCs are backed by gold through unallocated or allocated gold storage.
Despite Liberty Reserve’s dominance, alternatives exist. The following are the most popular among them:
WebMoney
- Founded: 1998
- Denominations: Gold (WMG), US Dollar (WMZ), Russian Ruble (WMR), Euro (WME) & Ukrainian Hryvnia (WMU)
- Owned by: WM Transfer Ltd.
- Registered in: Belize, Central America
- Operates in: Russia (has offices in other countries)
- Website: http://wmtransfer.com/eng/
Originally targeted mainly at Russian clients, it is now used worldwide. As at today, WebMoney lays claim to about 9.6 million users. WebMoney has very stringent entry requirements for merchants.
Perfect Money
- Founded: Unkwown
- Denominations: Gold Metal, USD and EUR
- Operated by: Perfect Money Finance Corporation
- Registered in: Panama, Central America
- Operates in: Republic of Panama
- Website: http://www.perfectmoney.com
Perfect Money is highly popular in Indonesia, Russia and Iran. It is the only DGC that has an EV SSL, an indicator of being genuine.
GoldMoney
- Founded: 2001
- Denominations: Gold, Silver and Platinum
- Operated by: Net Transactions Limited
- Registered in: British Channel Islands (UK)
- Operates in: British Channel Islands (UK)
- Website: http://goldmoney.com/
Amongst the DGCs, GoldMoney gains the most coverage from the mainstream media. It does not allow anonymous accounts and has an iPhone app for iPhone users. It is much users in the United States, India, United Kingdom and Ireland.
c-gold
- Founded: 2007
- Denominations: Gold
- Operated by: Private Gold Equities Exchange Limited
- Registered in: Seychelles
- Operates in: Malaysia
- Website: http://c-gold.com/
c-gold has a lot of similarities with e-gold but they should not be confused. As of today, c-gold lays claim to 27,178 accounts out of which only 7,033 are funded. c-gold has much of its users in the United States, Germany, Indonesia and Ukraine.
GlobalDigitalPay
- Founded: 2009
- Denominations: US Dollar, Euro, British Pounds
- Operated by: Digital Trade Network Ltd
- Registered in: British Virgin Islands
- Operates in: Hong Kong
- Website: http://www.globaldigitalpay.com/
GlobalDigitalPay is new, and is owned by the same company that runs London Gold Exchange (a leading digital currency exchanger). It is gaining popularity particularly in Pakistan, India and Australia. GDP requests account verification for transactions exceeding $30,000 to be removed.
*I deliberately excluded e-gold, the grandfather of them all, from this list.
Do you know of any other popular digital gold currencies you think should have been included, share them in the comments area.
Dearest Niyyie!
Pls tell me when we will have an e-currency that is of African origin?
We have a ready market.
A staggering number of prospective account holders. Nigerians alone will make it a dominant currency.
You had an interview on African e-currency initiative some time ago.
What about it?
It’s not that simple Adama. Any e-currency that would succeed must be truly global. Buyers must be willing to use it and sellers (mostly outside Africa) must be willing to accept it.
If there are DGCs that are working well for us, why re-invent the wheel?
We re-invent the wheel when it doesn’t serve our purpose.
Most credit cards and Paypal doesn’t accept us recieving payments.
I see this phenomenon as modern day slavery. We are the big spenders while they are the intelligent Recievers.
You know the economic implication.
I don’t know whether Liberty Reserve makes acceptance of Online 2 way transaction easier. Let me ask you “are you recieving payment via Paypal and Credit Cards?
The comment above is directed towards Credit cards and other e-currencies outside DGC.
Nice post David,
I would like to see a blog on
1. how these accounts can be funded particularly from Ghana and Nigeria – with the associated implications on charges and risk
2. a long list of merchants that support these e-currencies
PS. no that i cant find them but it would be a logical follow up to this blog post kudos
—————————————–
I would also we advocated for our acceptance into mainstream e-transaction sources such as paypal and 2checkout. Even if this means setting up an elite group of users with e.g. stricter security policies
Hello,
I really do not see why you had to post under “anonymous”. All the same. I would address the issues:
I suggest that you use search engines to locate credible e-currency exchangers and merchants in whatever country you’re based.
There are some complicated reasons why Paypal does not patronize Ghana and Nigeria. Perhaps you can write them and add to the pressure on them.
Cheers.
it think webmoney is a close rival with liberty reserve. i personally use them both for online payments
we talk of paypal not been accepted, the problem is most of us has not attached paypal yet why de need to see reason for the african continent… most of our country men in diasporo do not even care wen they get abroad to fight this…. i wrote an email to paypal and they said they will be looking into this, but i am just one person.. imagine if just 500ppl can send paypal email like that every month, they will not have chooice than look into our nation… i alone cannot fight the battle alone… paypal is the only guarante that u can claim ur money back from wrong purchase. e
I live in Ghana and i want to fund my liberty reserve account; please where can i buy from?
I long to hearing from you
thanks
I really like want I’m seeing here.
Your one of those who is really making money online.
keep it up
Liberty reserve might be gaining ground and might have numerous alternatives but Paypal remains the favorite of millions of people and merchants.
I wonder what we can do for Paypal to accept us.
Well err Oluniyi D. Ajao if you dont mind I would like to add one more alternative Liberty Reserve although a new company OkPay DO requires a slot in your list given that it also stands as a source of income with its referral system, dont you think?
Regards,
Anil Sharma.
i want to know how and where i can pay to my liberty reserve account in south africa?please i need this reply as soon as possible….okay
i need to pay to my liberty account please am in south africa how can i pay to my account and where in south africa?
I like Bitcoin besides the fact that it’s not completely anonymous and unstable, and way too complex for me. The best bet I’ve found so far is ENumbered. It’s the only truly anonymous e-currency I’ve found. It’s backed by real gold bullion, not some bogus fiat currency that’s up and down with the markets.
I signed up without a name, phone number, email; they didn’t ask for a damn thing. And I can withdraw my $ anonymously with a debit card I picked up. Moved more than 300k with it over the past year, and got all my business partners and contacts on it…it’s the only way to stay out from under the feds. Those jokers always trying to lockdown people’s hard-earned money. Ridiculous.
Paypal kept freezing my accounts, and LR was never anonymous, ENumbered always seemed like the best bet to me.