GoldMoney Blames Increase In Compliance Requirements For Service Cancellation

GoWest, editor of The Bitcoin Trader blog, had the scoop in reporting on a development where GoldMoney is cancelling its online payments system.  The organization has placed the blame on a “global increase in compliance requirements” for the action taken.  GoWest’s summary:

In other words, GoldMoney is officially no longer a competitor to Bitcoin.

GoldMoney’s online payments allows account holders to make payments using the company’s electronic system where ownership of a specified mass of gold, silver, platinum or palladium is transferred as payment to a merchant or to another account holder.  Service for the online payments service will be suspended on January 21, 2012.

Ironically, just weeks ago Dr. Edwin Vieira described how if the U.S. monetary system collapses, as he suspects it will, GoldMoney’s online payments system is the model for the states to implement themselves, independently.  This part of his talk starts at about 0:49:00 of the Youtube video of his congressional lecture titled What Is Constitutional Money.

GoldMoney is regulated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission under the Financial Services (Island of Jersey, British Channel Islands) Law 1998.  Within the past year, Trace Mayer, J.D. of @RunToGold provided an opinion on GoldMoney and describes some of the auditing the organization must undergo.  An excerpt:

The company deals only with bank wires from verified customers who are rigiousrly screened under applicable Know Your Client and Anti-Money Laundering regulations.

GoldMoney did not disclose specifically which additional compliance requirements caused the company to decide to suspend the online payments service.  Some bitcoin exchanges offer a similar member-to-member payments service.  These include Mt. Gox’s redeemable code payments mechanism and TradeHill’s user-to-user transfer service.  Presumably the same requirements for compliance that GoldMoney faces are seen by Bitcoin exchanges as well.

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