Gold Age

Last updated

The Gold Age was a digital currency exchange and one of the first independent e-gold exchanges. Gold Age was a registered legal corporate entity of Panama. [1] The Gold Age was launched in 1999 and closed down by regulators in 2006.

Contents

Background

Gold Age was used to buy and sell and trade the following digital gold currencies: e-gold, e-Bullion, and 1mdc.

Gold Age's fees for exchanging fiat currency into digital gold currency ranged from 4 percent to 1.75 percent, depending on the amount exchanged and if the client was an Inner Circle Member. Gold Age was an accredited and gold awarded member of the Global Digital Currency Association (GDCA).[ citation needed ]

U.S. Secret Service raid, March 2001

On March 12, 2001, then Gold Age owner Parker Bradley was detained at his place of business in Syracuse, New York by US Secret Service agents investigating credit card fraud. Bradley claimed he has stopped accepting credit cards in 2000 due to too many people used stolen credit cards when conducting business with him. "The interrogation became less about me and more about politics and e-gold," Bradley said. "They were trying to get me to blame e-gold for fraud. Just to be blunt, these guys have no clue about how e-commerce works, how e-gold works or what I was doing." [2]

In 2002 Bradley sold the business to new owners. [3]

Arrest of Gold Age principals, July 2006

On July 27, 2006 the New York County District Attorney's office announced the indictment of Arthur Budovsky and Vladimir Kats for allegedly violating Article 13-B of New York State Banking Law, after a six month sting operation that began in January 2006. [4] Budovsky and Kats declared their innocence saying "We believe this is a legitimate business practice, which does not require a state license." [5] Represented by Igor Niman, [6] they were found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison. The sentence reduced to five years probation. [7]

Budovsky subsequently[ when? ] fled the country and founded Liberty Reserve to perform a similar service as Gold Age. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HSBC</span> British multinational bank group

HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 trillion in assets under custody (AUC) and $4.9 trillion in assets under administration (AUA), respectively. HSBC traces its origin to a hong in British Hong Kong, and its present form was established in London by the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation to act as a new group holding company in 1991; its name derives from that company's initials. The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation opened branches in Shanghai in 1865 and was first formally incorporated in 1866.

e-gold Digital gold currency

e-gold was a digital gold currency operated by Gold & Silver Reserve Inc. (G&SR) that allowed users to open an account on their web site denominated in grams of gold, or other precious metals, and that let users make instant transfers of value ("spends") to other e-gold accounts. The e-gold system was launched in 1996 and had grown to five million accounts by 2009, when transfers were suspended due to legal issues. At its peak in 2006, e-gold was processing more than US$2 billion worth of transactions per year, on a monetary base of US$71 million worth of gold. e-gold Ltd. was incorporated in Nevis, Saint Kitts and Nevis with operations conducted out of Florida, USA.

Digital gold currency is a form of electronic money based on mass units of gold. It is a kind of representative money, like a US paper gold certificate at the time that these were exchangeable for gold on demand. The typical unit of account for such currency is linked to grams or troy ounces of gold, although other units such as the gold dinar are sometimes used. DGCs are backed by gold through unallocated or allocated gold storage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberty dollar (private currency)</span> Private currency produced in the United States

The American Liberty Dollar (ALD) was a private currency produced in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital One</span> Bank holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia

Capital One Financial Corporation is an American bank holding company specializing in credit cards, auto loans, banking, and savings accounts, headquartered in McLean, Virginia with operations primarily in the United States. It is on the list of largest banks in the United States and has developed a reputation for being a technology-focused bank.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital currency</span> Currency stored on electronic systems

Digital currency is any currency, money, or money-like asset that is primarily managed, stored or exchanged on digital computer systems, especially over the internet. Types of digital currencies include cryptocurrency, virtual currency and central bank digital currency. Digital currency may be recorded on a distributed database on the internet, a centralized electronic computer database owned by a company or bank, within digital files or even on a stored-value card.

A bureau de change or currency exchange is a business where people can exchange one currency for another.

A cryptocurrency exchange, or a digital currency exchange (DCE), is a business that allows customers to trade cryptocurrencies or digital currencies for other assets, such as conventional fiat money or other digital currencies. Exchanges may accept credit card payments, wire transfers or other forms of payment in exchange for digital currencies or cryptocurrencies. A cryptocurrency exchange can be a market maker that typically takes the bid–ask spreads as a transaction commission for its service or, as a matching platform, simply charges fees.

A private currency is a currency issued by a private entity, be it an individual, a commercial business, a nonprofit or decentralized common enterprise. It is often contrasted with fiat currency issued by governments or central banks. In many countries, the issuance of private paper currencies and/or the minting of metal coins intended to be used as currency may even be a criminal act such as in the United States. Digital cryptocurrency is sometimes treated as an asset instead of a currency. Cryptocurrency is illegal as a currency in a few countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Bank of Iran</span> Iranian central bank

The Central Bank of Iran (CBI), also known as Bank Markazi, officially the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran is the central bank of Iran.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Money</span> Object or record accepted as payment

Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as a medium of exchange, a unit of account, a store of value and sometimes, a standard of deferred payment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Credit card</span> Card for financial transactions from a line of credit

A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt. The card issuer creates a revolving account and grants a line of credit to the cardholder, from which the cardholder can borrow money for payment to a merchant or as a cash advance. There are two credit card groups: consumer credit cards and business credit cards. Most cards are plastic, but some are metal cards, and a few gemstone-encrusted metal cards.

An identity verification service is used by businesses to ensure that users or customers provide information that is associated with the identity of a real person. The service may verify the authenticity of physical identity documents such as a drivers license, passport, or a nationally issued identity document through documentary verification. Additionally, also involve the verification of identity information (fields) against independent and authoritative sources, such as a credit bureau or proprietary government data.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberty Reserve</span>

Liberty Reserve was a Costa Rica-based centralized digital currency service that billed itself as the "oldest, safest and most popular payment processor, serving millions all around a world". The site had over one million users when it was shut down by the United States government. Prosecutors argued that due to lax security, alleged criminal activity largely went undetected, which ultimately led to them seizing the service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Shrem</span> American entrepreneur

Charles Shrem IV is an American entrepreneur and bitcoin advocate. He co-founded the now-defunct startup company BitInstant, and is a founding member of the Bitcoin Foundation. In 2014 he was sentenced to two years in prison for aiding and abetting the operation of an unlicensed money-transmitting business related to the Silk Road marketplace. He was released from prison in 2016. In 2017, he joined Jaxx and served as its chief operating officer, and founded cryptocurrency advisory CryptoIQ.

United States virtual currency law is financial regulation as applied to transactions in virtual currency in the U.S. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has regulated and may continue to regulate virtual currencies as commodities. The Securities and Exchange Commission also requires registration of any virtual currency traded in the U.S. if it is classified as a security and of any trading platform that meets its definition of an exchange.

Bitfinex is a cryptocurrency exchange owned and operated by iFinex Inc registered in the British Virgin Islands. Their customers' money has been stolen or lost in several incidents, and they have been unable to secure normal banking relationships.

Cryptocurrency and crime describes notable examples of cybercrime related to theft of cryptocurrencies and some of the methods or security vulnerabilities commonly exploited. Cryptojacking is a form of cybercrime specific to cryptocurrencies that has been used on websites to hijack a victim's resources and use them for hashing and mining cryptocurrencies.

The Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange was hacked in August 2016. 119,756 bitcoin, worth about US$72 million at the time, were stolen.

References

  1. Hong, Nicole (2016-01-29). "Liberty Reserve Founder Pleads Guilty to Money Laundering Charge". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved 2020-08-13.
  2. Secret Service Raids Gold-Age
  3. The sale and re-birth of Gold-Age
  4. "New York County District attorney press release July 27, 2006". Archived from the original on March 12, 2007. Retrieved July 31, 2006.
  5. 2 men charged in alleged banking scheme
  6. 2 in N.Y. charged with money laundering
  7. 1 2 David Boddiger; L. Arias (May 25, 2013). "Millions of dollars in limbo after shuttering of digital currency site Liberty Reserve". Tico Times. Archived from the original on December 31, 2013. Retrieved May 28, 2013.