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Last week ushered in a shiny new golden beginning for digital money users. C-gold, a Malaysian start up digital gold currency, quietly entered the marketplace and now just a few days old it is rapidly gaining acceptance. C-gold, operates very similar to e-gold and even has that deja vu look and feel of the e-gold web site. However, in the past few days, there has been much discussion on chat lists revolving around whether this new business is just a clone or much more.
After a brief investigation, I believe that www.c-gold.com is one of a kind and I predict big success for this venture.
C-gold is a new ‘digital’ gold currency platform which not only operates online, but also will soon work offline through brick and mortar global locations. The management is forecasting that soon it will launch additional shop fronts, mobile wallets and integration for handheld devices.
Some other successful companies management is associated with include: CyberFrontier Corporation, CyFroCA$H Incorporated, Cyberica.NET Limited (www.cyberica.net, www.u2planet.com),CyberGoldBank.NET and is also responsible for the Private Gold Equities Exchange Limited which is being developed as a privately operated alternative to public stock exchanges.
What I considered so unique to c-gold is their over-the-counter bailment’s and redemptions. This operation is handled at brick and mortar locations. Verified, account holders simply drop off a bar and pick up a bar when funding or redeeming their digital account. There is NO surcharge or extra fees for this operation. Bars are also shipped worldwide and the service is fast Nice! (shipping, handling, insurance charges will apply)
Of course, you can’t drop off a 1 gram bar, so I’m out of luck….the minimum bailment in or out is 1,000 grams (999 fine, marked and certified bars only) They predict that smaller denominations and bullion coins will be added as that part of the business grows. Today, which is about 4 days into their new operation, 5200 grams are already on deposit. You can see their daily holdings right down to the bar mark and number from the c-gold holdings page. c-gold is considered by some the next logical stage of ‘digital gold currencies’, by allowing each local user to bail in and redeem literally over the counter. From their FAQ’s page:
“Any user with an active and verified c-gold.com User Holdings Account can visit a shop of the Commerce Gold Network and add gold to his or her account by bailing in a gold bar (type conditions apply).”
Verified accounts require ID, utility bills and other personal information. Why? The c-gold operators understand that the ‘The Know Your Customer’ (KYC) rules/regulations/laws spanning multiple jurisdictions around the globe are very important in today’s digital economy in order to combat terrorist funding, money laundering, child pornography, copyright infringements and to help eliminate attempts to abuse the c-gold system.
The first retail location for this operation is now being prepared in Penang, Malaysia. Negotiations with interested and qualified parties are also underway including franchise shops, ’shoplets’ and strategic global locations.
Another ’stand out’ feature of c-gold will soon be their multi-lingual site options and customer support. In the weeks ahead, they are adding German, French, Russian, Spanish and even Mandarin, Japanese. Other languages can be added by request and/or demand possibilities now under consideration include Korean, Arabic and Farsi.
C-gold already offers a fine referral program. Earning a few coins while spreading the ‘word’ has always been an integral part of the digital currency world and c-gold is no exception.
Accepting c-gold from your web site is simple just add their Click-to-Pay code. Also if you are familiar with HTML you can easily add their point and click shopping cart interface. Easy stuff if you have just a bit of HTML experience.
Updates: As I understand it a keystroke pop up tool and a turing number are currently being added.
c-gold 
egold
Popularity: 5% [?]
A lame e-gold copy on first sight, enough to make my stomach turn already. It doesnt matter that the inside is different or not, they could at least have used a different layout and so I am not impressed.
But I guess people just need a way to anonymously transfer money online, so it might have some degree of success. I wont use them.
Who said it was anonymous? If you want to do big business with them you will have to get verified I believe…
I would like to know if big DGC players would not use this web just because of the look?
Mark
I’m not so worried about the look as I am security of our gold as well as the ease of funding the site.
I do agree that it doesn’t give me any “warm fuzzys” that a company that can very quickly start transacting millions of dollars a month, did not feel it was important enough to come up with more unique designed site.
It looks like they took the E-gold pages and altered them.
Personally I think it will take a long time for an exchanger to get comfortable with this company.
Although being on US soil has been the “thorn” in the side of e-gold, being a us based company is the primary reason it grew as quickly and gain the market share that it did.
Quit frankly, most people don’t have the trust that a foreign country will go after the “bad guys” like the US does.
I guess only time will tell.
Paul
Interesting comments :o)
From the horse’s mouth though, we DID study all DGCs of note for several years. We DID decide that e-gold’s layout was the best by far, in terms of ease of use. AND we decided that e-gold had the best feature implementation.
THUS, using a similar layout and implementing the same features (among others) was a given. And as we are in Asia and things DO work differently here, a familiar feel is worth more than a million dollar production. It’s how the local psyche works. Something that works will be adopted, then slowly modified, then improved, and finally supercedes the original.
Asians don’t start something new and untested. Especially not when time is a major factor.
We did change the logo in the meantime, and will make other changes over time, but we will not change the look and feel until we have a customer base that is comfortable enough with us to adjust to the change.
And we did actually experiment with several layouts, did a study, and asked prospects questions about the different samples. The one we have got the nod of 71% of all users questioned. The next one was the preferred look and layout of 8%…
Lastly, several exchangers did add c-gold to their sites, or are doing it right now, and we are not specifically interested in poaching customer’s from e-gold. Ie. while Americans are of course welcome, they are not our target.
Cheers,
Robert.
www.c-gold.com
Robert, probably changing your corporate identity for C-gold might help a little. Honestly it does look like a rip-off of E-gold’s site, so it might turn potential customers away, just a thought.
I’d be signing up to test it out though!
hmm..I just signed up today, and I was overwhelmed how similar the c-gold system is to e-gold. Even the spend screen looks exactly the same! While I think that variety in the e-currency arena is good, I definitely value originality and innovation over mere duplication. To be honest up front I don’t see the value that c-gold can provide to the e-currency world. Another thing, what does the “c” in c-gold stand for, “copy”?
People like what they have been comfortable in using, so I agree with the psychology of copying the e-gold format.
I will join here when the touring number is added. It needs more login security!
Even so, at this stage, I give it a thumbs up!
HeyJude
Yes, I agree. It needs a lot more security, but no doubt they are working on that. Maybe they should have waited until the system had 100% functionality before releasing it to the public, but I guess it’s not that big of a deal.
What would be cool in my opinion is if c-gold offered an encrypted login method like ebullion’s cryptokey. I would be all over that !
Low fees high security = perfect payment system
Another thing, does anyone know of an exchanger that has adopted c-gold?
I wouldnt be caught dead lugging around a gold bar….
Well I for one am impressed that the owner/operator commented here. Not like I’ve ever seen another one do that. He told us why they chose the design and it makes sense to him and his target market. I don’t mind it, I’m happy to be able to figure out how to use it right away and I’m comfortable with it.
New designs…hmmmm…..like EMO or INTgold? Hmmm people flocked to those and where are they now?
When dealing with Internet finance, and I think you will all agree, its not the web design that counts, its the people who are behind the deal. Fancy webs can still leave you hanging, but responsible successful people won’t.
I suggest you go to the GDCA and look at the other businesses Robert operates and has been operating for about a decade. Cyfrocash, Cyberica, several agents host through his servers, many agents are familiar and some accept Cyfrocash. Robert is a proven performer in the DGC industry and his word is golden. I’d trust him with my tiny fortune any day. I’ve known him about 5 years.
As for agents picking up c-gold, I would think a majority will do it soon, as they all know Robert also, for years. It’s a good discussion and comments are awesome, but you need to look beyond the opening design to who is really handling the money, who do you trust?
As for security, the cryptocard is always a great idea, but I think right now they are adding the pop up keyboard and a turing number.
Thanks to all for commenting. Keep them coming.
Mark
Just one more items I forgot to mention. You can map it in Google if you like, but….
Penang, Malaysia is NO WHERE near Melbourne, FL USA
“Its this whole other country”
Cheers.
Mark
lool..yeah, not being in the United States of America is a very good thing. Also I like the fact that c-gold asks for DD info from you. However, I feel that eventually e-gold will do the same.
Also I hope they add a “PIN” code robot system like e-gold (for e-mail notification of login attempts)
Hi Mark,
Thanks for your comments and coming hear to introduce and explain the c-gold system.
Yes I agree that the people behind the system is far more important than the general look of the site.
I also understand your logic for copying the egold functionality. After reading your explanation, I do find it to make good business sense.
Best wishes
Paul
Hi allinvain, c-gold stands for Commerce Gold not “copy gold” …LOL
Hi Robert, any particular reason why you chose Malaysia for the operations (bailment, storage etc) of c-gold? I am from Malaysia and I find the enforcement in M’sia weak and sadly lacking.
IMHO, I am not particularly comfortable with the idea of storing huge amount of gold in M’sia
Robert, would it be possible to get rid of the frame-braking script? The frame breaking code makes it impossible to use our c-gold referral code in manual surf programs.
Thanks.
Hi Robert,
Surprised and happy that you had came here and explain a little bit more about your C-Gold system.
Are you sure that putting your system in Malaysia is safe enough ? I under there are also laws against currency exchanges in Malaysia. Though I think it is many times safer than in USA.
I hope your system will grow and if e-Gold collapses, C-Gold will take over. LOL….
I suggest that you slowly but surely adjust, amend and change the program screen layout so that it will not look like the e-Gold system at a first look.
I am more interested in the integrity of the system and the honesty of the people operating it.
I am more interested in the low cost and low fees charged for using the system.
I am more interested in how fast the transactions are processed.
Wish you well and hope that more programs will adopt the C-Gold system.
Hi Mark,
What I would like to know is what is your policy on theft.
What happens if some gets into my c-gold account and I report it to c-gold admin.
Do you lock the perpetrator’s account so that no funds can be moved until the accusation has been looked into.
Do you even have a policy for this type of thing.
Thanks
Paul
Hi All,
It was a little uncanny to access C-gold and feel like I was at E-gold, but my first thought was that it was a marketing maneuver, which might look tacky at first, but it also indicates good business sense. There’s nothing like running with what works … both for the company and prospective clients. I think that most users will be pleased there will be no great learning curve involved. I can hear it now, “Ah … sweet relief!”
I’m guessing that most of my members will watch with interest and look forward to seeing the implementation of some of the upcoming features.
Tulasu
Sorry for the late replies, but it seems I didn’t get the notifier of new comments being posted ;o)
WHY MALAYSIA?
Several reasons, firstly the government did in the past just about endorse e-dinar.com before it moved from Labuan to Dubai.
In other words, the government did signal it’s interest in supporting the concept.
Secondly, rule of law. I can’t figure any way on God’s green Earth that any Malaysian court would hand down a forfeiture order against an operator when the value attached doen’t belong to the operator. From following various kinds of AML legislation and enforcements, etc. over the years, I came to trust that in Malaysia law enforcement will first ask “how” and especially “why”, before deciding if further action is warranted.
Our local company has been doing arbitrage in the DGC business for years, and all the authorities want to know is that we know our customers, keep proper records and have strcit AML procedures. Other that than, despite currency exchange controls, because of the nature of our business, there has been no problem or hinderance with literally receiving and sending millions of dollars from and to foreign banks every year. We file the reports, the central bank sees where the money is from and what it’s for, and that’s that. THIS is how things should be everywhere, and it is how they ARE in Malaysia.
Thirdly, we have the whole infrastructure already in place in Malaysia. While c-gold is in fact NOT owned by a Malaysian company, our local company DOES act as custodian of the gold and ensures smooth bailaments and redemptions under an outsourcing agreement that is in line with what we have been doing all along and what the company here was incorporated for.
Fourthly, Malaysia is simply a great place to live and do business :o) Taxes are reasonably, cost of living is comparably low, and Malaysians never give you the feeling of being an outsider. I honestly admire the country and its people for what they have achieved.
Lastly, Malaysia is billing itself as a Muslim country, even though it practices a very liberal and tolerant interpretation of the religion and about 40% of the population follow other religions. A Muslim country can not possibly outlaw the possession of gold, nor can it forbid using gold as a tool for payments between private parties.
C-GOLD THEFT PROTECTION
Yes, if someone managed to phish an account and make unauthorised transactions from it, we will freeze the phisher’s account and take action.
TURING NUMBERS
Are in place since yesterday - multicoloured even ;o)
EXCHANGERS / CONVERTIBILITY
I know that www.anygoldnow.com allows conversions, and also trades c-gold, as does goldnow.st, and an increasing number of others.
Open2Exchange contacted us for details to add it to their interface, and we are negotiating with a couple of other DGCs to make c-gold their primary or secondary bullion storage. In other words, we will store the gold used to back some other currencies. I think that this is the ultimate expression of trust in our system and procedures…
Cheers,
Robert.
Hi Robert,
Again, thank you for your reply. In regards to what you said earlier
“C-GOLD THEFT PROTECTION
Yes, if someone managed to phish an account and make unauthorised transactions from it, we will freeze the phisher’s account and take action.”
Can you give more details about this process?
What, “exactly” warrants you freezing of an account of someone accused of “phishing” Does this also apply to programs accused of scamming clients?
Thank you
Paul
Hey Paul,
When someone claims to have been phished then several criteria would be met in just about every instant:
(1) Connection to the account was done through a different IP
- which will be impossible with the IP challenge system from next week.
OR
(1b) Connection was done through the user’s PC following him being the victim of a sophisticated trojan that gets the PC to transfer gold while the user is logged in doing something else.
- we are working on an optional TAN system to counter that one.
AND
(2) The transaction would be the first to an account that hasn’t been transferred to before.
- the holder of the receiving account should then be able to provide evidence of communications or an order of one sort or another to show that the transaction was legit.
AS TO SCAMMING
We will not reverse the transaction outright. Instead we will freeze the account and advise the parties to either settle it amongst themselves or to use third party arbitration - or get a court order.
HOWEVER
If someone operates a site meant to defraud users (auction scams, ponzis, etc.) then we will freeze the account, and post about it on the upcoming news page, giving users the opportunity to weigh in with their own experiences.
We don’t want to have to arbitrate, and are probably going to make a deal with the GDCA to take over that responsibility by default, but are especially encouraging users to settle their disputes amongst themselves to get accounts unfrozen. If a claimant is unreasonable in his or her demands, or in fact makes false allegations, then that same claimant might find that his own account will be terminated and he can pick from a list of approved exchangers to receive a cheque for his or her account balance.
c-gold.com can not condone fraud in any way or form, but at the same time, we have been in the DGC business long enough to know how easily some people make allegations and cry foul. Thus, supporting evidence will always be required to get us to take decisive action.
Cheers,
Robert.
Hopefully Robert will read this and post a reply. I have transferred funds to my c-gold account via me-gold. However I am now unable to make onward payments as the c-gold site is down. There are time restrictions for makiung these payments and I would be grateful of any indications as to when the problem will be resolved please.
Thank you in anticipation of an early reply.