There's something fascinating about gold that I just can't explain. It seems that it has been that way for some time. Our ancestors were equally impressed with this lovely metal, and have used it as a store of wealth for centuries. In the past, I had never really seen the need to have such a thing. Gold seemed an extravagant luxury, but the fact is that the desire for gold is beyond that. It's a commodity in limited supply with very real purposes. Gold is used not only as a hedge against economic turmoil, but in practical applications as well such as the manufacturing of circuit boards needed in the device you're reading this post on.
Why should crypto enthusiasts care about gold though? If you've been trading in the world of crypto very long you'll no doubt know that the appeal is the volatility of the system. It's what sent Bitcoin rocketing up to an unbelievable price, and it has sent the price of SBD through the roof as well. However, that can go both ways. A fierce correction could send coins tumbling and find investors scattering in all directions, but when the world falls on its head you can most likely be sure that gold is floating upwards. With a golden foundation in your portfolio you can be better prepared for a disaster.
In times past, people had all manner of ways to store gold. Many of which included hiding it in their house or burying it in the yard! Fortunately, the future is here, and you don't have to resort to such methods to keep your gold holding safe. Enter Gold Money. Your financial hedge, your golden nest egg: evolved.
Gold Money is kind of a digital recreation of the gold standard. You, the account holder are guaranteed to be able to claim gold bullion at any time for the digital value in your account. They use something they call "Gold Grams". These have a value of one real gram of gold but can be used as a tradeable currency within the Gold Money site. This offers a few advantages over holding your own physical gold coins or bars.
For starters, you have no worries of theft. All vaults are insured, and well protected. In addition, Gold Money can also offer account holders the lowest possible price. I assume they have managed to acquire some sort of deal by purchasing a lot of gold at once. Much more than most individuals could acquire on their own. They claim a savings of 7-10% over the price of buying gold on your own which could add up to a pretty penny very quickly!
More interestingly, it opens up several investment possibilities that would not be available to you if you purchased physical gold from a dealer. For starters, you can self-fund a precious metals IRA or pension. Try doing that at your local gold dealer or coin swap. This allows you to invest in gold, tax deferred, meaning you won't have to pay any taxes until you withdraw funds later which gives you more money now to use to purchase more gold. This option is looking pretty attractive given the damage the recession did to many people stocks only retirement fund. The storage fees for Gold Money are pretty reasonable, and they'll even give you a credit if you're more active in your account which is pretty awesome. A quote from their site is below:
We calculate your total buying, selling, and exchange activity each month, and apply the total commission you paid against your monthly storage fee. This means that you only pay storage fees during months you are less active. For example, an account with a gold balance of $25,000 would only need to make $500 worth of gold transactions per month to avoid paying a storage fee.
If you're more of a small fry in the world of precious metals then you might be more interested in the fact that you can get started investing with pretty much any amount of money. Instead of having to purchase a 1 oz gold coin for the current price of some $1,300 or so you can instead start putting away small amounts every month into your shiny new Gold Savings Account. This can even be set on a recurring basis to build your gold holdings without any further effort. Gold Money has no minimum deposit so potential gold investors of all income levels can participate.
Oh yeah, and you can also fund your account with crypto currencies! From what I can tell they have integrated with Shapeshift to do this. So, you should be able to use whatever coins are listed there to easily fund your account. Unfortunately, Steem has been "temporarily unavailable" for some time on Shapeshift. I really hope they add it back in the future so Steemit users can start buying some gold with their Steem! Maybe Steemians can start politely making requests to the Shapeshift team?
You can store crypto currencies in your gold money account, but you can not deposit or withdraw your own coins. You can only purchase coins allowed in their holdings. The 60+ coins advertised are for funding options only. Currently, Gold Money only allows you to store Bitcoin and Ether in their cold storage. If you have a lot of bitcoin, and you needed to be sure it was safe for the long haul then this could be a pretty good option.
I don't have that much, but if I had some serious holdings I'd probably be scared to death to keep it in even a paper wallet. Hopefully they will add some more big coins like Monero or ERC20 tokens for investments.
My favorite thing about Gold Money is their super cool 18k gold debit cards! Too flashy? Maybe, but it's still pretty awesome. I think I finally understand how these work. Given that you're using the "gold grams" for transactions I'm guessing these are what are "debited" from your account for spending instead of the physical gold. This is what I meant earlier when I referenced "the gold standard". Your 'Gold Grams' will be worth an equal amount of gold, but they can be used for much, much more and transferred much easier than physical gold. Some super serious gold bugs might turn their nose up at somebody else holding their gold, but think about this.. you might never have to use fiat money again with this card. Gold is once again a currency instead of just an investment.
These are real debit cards that can be used anywhere, and seeing as you can fund your account with crypto currencies it could be a really great way to spend the crypto you want to cash out too. Gold Money might essential have the easiest to get/use crypto debit card for US residents. I think I need one of these.
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So, what is gold money? Gold Money is the new gold standard. It makes real gold once again useful for everyday transactions and purchases. It hedges your crypto investments while you're trying to HODL. It lets you use your money when and where you want. It's the future of gold investing.
This was my entry for the Gold Money "What In The World Is Gold Money" contest.