Dear James, Your comments do seem a bit self-serving, but as the song says:
You can't please everyone, so Ya got to please yourself. I have no doubt that your comments are useful as well as quite self-serving. There seems to be a synergy there. Perusing the documents again more closely, it may be that you are correct and the previous audit which I can access readily was not an audit as such. It has been a long while that I've had one or more e-gold accounts, and it seems to me there were other audit documents in the 1998 to 2001 timeframe, but I would have to hunt through a bunch of old data archives in the event I have one of these. As there is no current audit of e-gold, and as that sort of current audit is what I seek along with others, there is not much reason to hunt for the old stuff. As far as how much e-currency has been issued by the e-gold system, there is an e-gold examiner page, and related pages, which seem to indicate this figure on a regular basis. I am aware that these pages post the representations of management, and are not an audit of those representations. Again, I would also like to see those figures audited. The fact that e-gold has gold, and that nobody doubts it, not even you, one of their primary competitors, suggests that e-gold is a different class of thing than OSGold. I think that's important in and of itself. Due diligence on e-gold remains to be completed, but there is plenty of evidence that they have gold. There was never any evidence at all that OSGold had even a tiny amount of gold for which its currency might be redeemed. E-gold may in fact not be gold circulated electronically. It does appear that it is an electronic warehouse receipt, or a digital warehouse receipt currency. However, in spite of the vehement insistence that GoldMoney is gold circulated electronically, a number of participants on these lists, notably Craig Spencer, say that your system is also a warehouse receipt system. The one calling itself major or colonel bosco has suggested that it is noteworthy that your system requires a person to own 400 ounces, even though other bar sizes are in regular use worldwide, in order to obtain redemption of gold directly to the user. To the extent that redemption of gold is possible from e-gold, that same standard applies. Clearly, e-gold is motivated to differentiate its approach and its technology from GoldMoney's approach and technology. That is no surprise, given the patent litigation that looms. I suspect that there are more than one way to skin a cat. If, on the one hand, Barry Downey is mistaken in his sworn affidavit, and e-gold is just like GoldMoney, then your patent dispute has merit. If, on the other hand, Downey is correct, your patent dispute would seem to fall by the wayside. In this second case, the matter of e-gold having a third party auditor perform an actual audit is important to those of us who are buying and selling it all the time. Let me reiterate, I've always wanted an audit of e-gold. I've gone to considerable trouble to prompt an audit. I've even looked into the matter of hiring a third party auditor to conduct such an audit independent of e-gold. (This matter proves to be quite difficult and expensive. No third party auditor has yet indicated that it is possible, but each one that I've inquired with has indicated a very high fee just to find out if such an audit were possible. Zounds.) The ownership of the gold would appear to be relevant, but not the only relevant thing. Yes, I am willing to suppose that I own the gold represented in my GoldMoney holding. I am also willing to accept that I don't own the gold in my e-gold account. The matter of an audit is pretty important in either case, so based solely on this issue, I would rather hold GoldMoney than e-gold. However, the matter of redemption also figures prominently in my choices. I happen to find the customer service at e-Bullion to be par excellence, and the fact that I can redeem any size of bullion from them seems to be a significant improvement. So, on the whole, I'd rather hold e-Bullion. The market seems to agree, since e-Bullion is the second largest and appears to be the fastest growing online gold currency. Let's say that you are correct and that e-gold is really a promise to pay gold. How does that affect the end user? Provided that there are ounces of gold to match all the promises outstanding, it does not have any affect on the end user at all. It is just another way of skinning the cat. The cat might complain, but the job gets done. (I've never really understood this idiom: who wants to have a cat without its pelt? Given my mild allergy to cat saliva, I sure don't want the cat's pelt, either. At least when attached to the cat, it can be involved in the catching of rodents.) As far as sarcastic versions of e-gold's slogan, I think I came up with a few of those myself. Which is part of the joy of doing business. If we can't laugh at e-gold, at whom should we laugh? Slogans are one thing; material representations are another. Again, provided that there are ounces of gold sufficient for the redemption of all of e-gold's obligations, I don't see how the end user is affected. So far, I have had no difficulty redeeming e-gold when I wanted it. Truly, that isn't good enough. I want to see a third party audit of e-gold. Last I heard, it is the official position of e-gold and OmniPay that such an audit is in the works. I agree that the issue of whether e-gold, GoldMoney, 1MDC, or e-Bullion are 100% reserve systems, or fractional reserve systems is of significance, no matter what their business model might be. I am satisfied that GoldMoney and e-Bullion are 100% reserve systems. I'm pretty sure e-gold is, too. There is some evidence to that effect for 1MDC. One thing that I do think is most excellent is that, so far, we have a free market system. The sellers of gold currencies are in competition, and keep each other honest. The buyers are also in competition, and do the same. Exchange providers are also in competition, and have similar functions. One day soon, I expect all this competition will be swept away by the perverse dictates of one or more governments. Then we'll have much more trouble. Regards, Jim http://cambist.net/ --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: archive@jab.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Use e-gold's Secure Randomized Keyboard (SRK) when accessing your e-gold account(s) via the web and shopping cart interfaces to help thwart keystroke loggers and common viruses.
