Resource World Magazine

J U N E / J U L Y 2 0 1 6 www.resourceworld.com 49 iNvESTmENT BITGOLD officially announced the launch of BitGold Business Accounts and mer- chant payment processing in early April, in Copenhagen, at Money 20/20, the world's largest FinTech event. It was the perfect venue for the launch as the event focuses on new and disruptive ways in which consumers and businesses man- age, spend and borrow money. BitGold Business Accounts, the company says, will "transform the global cross-border pay- ment experience by enabling freelancers, sole proprietors, and small business own- ers to request and accept business and consumer payments in vaulted-gold bul- lion, enabling instant cross-border value settlement and reducing risks and delays in global commerce." This is the most recent milestone in BitGold's journey toward their stated goal of making, "gold accessible and useful in digital payments and secure sav- ings." Impressive progress for a company launched just under a year ago. Since BitGold's launch on May 4, 2015, the company acquired the GoldMoney Network, one of the world's largest, pri- vate, precious metals managers; signed up nearly 900,000 users, did nearly $100 mil- lion in gold transactions and unveiled the first ever 10 gram gold cube. BitGold users already own over a tonne of gold on the network. All of which was accomplished at a cost of less than $10,000,000 invested by the company in its first year. BitGold also launched the first ever prepaid MasterCard funded from physi- cal, vaulted gold. Users can redeem part of their gold balance to their prepaid card whenever they want to sell their savings gains and use the redeemed funds to make everyday purchases. The card is accepted at over 33 million merchants worldwide, and can be used to make cash withdrawals from any ATM displaying the MasterCard, Maestro, or Cirrus logo. BitGold's internet platform, that enables clients to buy and store physical gold, made owning the precious metal easy. Client's gold is stored in vaults adminis- tered by Brinks. Delivery can be made to clients in the form of 1 kilogram bars, 10 gram cubes, and traditional gold bullion coins. The company has advanced the, "digital payments revolution by helping people securely acquire, store, and now spend gold with unprecedented simplic- ity. BitGold accounts are free and can be opened in minutes." BitGold's business platform allows users to avoid the delays and processing fees encountered when using traditional pay- ment systems and regional currencies. BitGold for Business also facilitates bulk payout solutions for international payroll, gold dividends, rebates, reward payments, partner and affiliate payouts, micro pay- ments and more. "Our newest applications allow anyone in the world to be paid in gold by their employer, facilitates friction- less-bulk micro payments to anyone in the world, and allows gold and other commod- ity focused companies to pay back their shareholders in gold as a return of capital or dividend," said CEO, Roy Sebag. "What we're most excited about, however, is that it democratizes access to gold not only for those that part with capital, but also those that part with their labour and time." Signing up for a BitGold account and gold storage is free. BitGold charges a 1% fee on purchases and redemptions. BitGold's pay app makes it easy to accept gold payments on your website from anyone, anywhere in the world. From their BitGold Business account, cli- ents can simply copy and paste a short HTML snippet on to their website to add a payment button for a single item or for a shopping cart. The payment buttons allow clients to instantly and securely accept gold payments. "As we continuously ship new prod- ucts and improve the utility of the platform, all free to use for our clients, we also introduce new use cases that have never before existed for gold," said Josh Crumb, GoldMoney CSO. "Gold is always and everywhere a store of value, but the technology of our platform can trans- form gold from an elite investment to the global-money that it has been for most of recorded history." n BitGold launches business accounts and gold payment solutions: — a new global standard for merchant payments EvEry 30 sEconds a nEw usEr signs up froM soMEwhErE in thE world. WitH a BitGold BusinEss account usErs can: • Accept Payments – Once approved, you can start earning gold for your goods and services using BitGold's invoicing and online checkout tools. • Make Payments – Send your gold balance as an easy way to pay vendors, contractors, or employees for payroll locally or internationally, directly from your BitGold account. • Redeem Your Gold – Easy Settlement. Sell any % of your gold balance to your bank's currency or receive a prepaid mastercard to spend your balance glob- ally where mastercard is accepted.

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