[Foundation-l] e-gold proposal

Sun Dec 12 05:19:58 UTC 2004

Nice pitch, but I still don't get what Wikimedia would have to do.
When you say "Post a prominent link to the e-gold site" do you mean a
link on the wiki pages itself, or do you mean a link on a single page,
specifically http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Fundraising (like the
already existing PayPal ones)?

I also don't get the referral system. Would e-gold donate to Wikimedia
besides what the users are donating? Does this effectively mean that
the percentage that e-gold takes from the user donation will be
smaller for Wikimedia?

On Sat, 11 Dec 2004 23:54:17 -0500, Douglas Jackson <djackson at e-gold.com> wrote:
> 
> A proposal follows that is commercial in nature. I am posting it to this
> list per the instructions of one of the Wikimedia Foundation Board members.
> *****************
> I would like to encourage the Wikimedia Foundation to:
> 
>     * Accept e-gold www.e-gold.com donations,
>     * Post a prominent link to the e-gold site, using syntax that would
>       enable the Foundation to capture referral incentives.
> 
> e-gold is an alternative payment system that mobilizes the value of
> gold, as currency, for payments over the Internet. Online since 1996,
> the e-gold system serves over 1.5 million users in 165 countries. In
> 2003 alone, the e-gold system processed 15 million payments, conveying
> an aggregate value of $700 million. The e-gold website receives about
> one million visits per week. There is over $26 million worth of e-gold
> in continuous circulation, backed by 1.88 metric tonnes of physical gold
> in appropriate custodial arrangements. The system is highly robust
> technically and can scale readily.
> 
> It costs nothing to create an e-gold account. There is no obligation and
> e-gold never sells/releases customer information (without a court
> order). There is no fee for the payer who makes an e-gold  payment. The
> payment processing fee is deducted from the recipient. It is around 5%
> for tiny micropayments but quickly falls below 1% for larger value
> payments. The maximum fee is 5 centigrams of e-gold, equivalent to about
> 70 cents at current exchange rates.
> 
> Every e-gold account can pay or receive payment and there is no merchant
> application process required to use the e-gold automation interfaces.
> The pertinent automation interface is the e-gold Shopping Cart
> Interface. It can be implemented in a simplified form in a few minutes.
> The full spec is at http://sci.e-gold.com
> 
> The unique characteristics that would make e-gold advantageous for the
> Wikimedia Foundation include:
> 
>     * e-gold is truly global, enabling Wikimedia to receive donations
>       from China or anywhere else as readily as from the US,
>     * e-gold payments settle immediately and are irreversible.
> 
> The bits that sometimes confuse people...
> 
>     * Since e-gold represents real gold, it is denominated in weight
>       units. This is best understood by thinking of e-gold as if it were
>       a foreign currency. Like any other currency, its exchange value
>       relative to the US dollar will continuously fluctuate. This is a
>       source of exchange rate risk, but can also be a good thing.
>     * People often ask "How do I get e-gold". The rigorously precise
>       answer is "just like you get any other money - you receive a
>       payment from someone who already has some". Practically speaking
>       though, what people generally mean by their question is "where can
>       I exchange dollars to get e-gold?". Well, for purposes of the
>       Foundation accepting e-gold payments, the answer is "Who cares?
>       The Foundation would be receiving donations and it doesn't matter
>       how the people clicking to the Foundation acquired their e-gold.
>       If there was a cost involved, none of that cost is passed through
>       or borne by the Foundation". But the answer you probably think you
>       are looking for is "Go to www.omnipay.com (OmniPay is a company in
>       Melbourne, FL that I'm CEO of) and use the exchange interface.
>       OmniPay has the most competitive spreads for exchanging USD for
>       e-gold and vice versa".
> 
> Sorry for such a long post. But one more thing in closing. e-gold is an
> alternative that complements other payment systems. You would continue
> to accept whatever modes of payment you already do. But in adding
> e-gold, depending on the extent to which your website said nice things
> about it and/or emphasized the links, you could benefit pretty
> substantially by introducing your community of users to it. The e-gold
> Referral Incentive Program is detailed at
> http://www.e-gold.com/unsecure/incentive.htm
> 
> eff.org and mozilla.org accept e-gold donations too.
> 
> sincere regards,
> Dr. Douglas Jackson
> Chairman, e-gold Ltd.
> CEO, OmniPay
> djackson at e-gold.com
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> 

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[[en:User:Dori]]