General Definition - What is bearer money?
Bearer money is an accepted payment medium which is not registered anywhere to the owner (bearer). Who, who holds (bears) the payment instrument owns it. While changing hands during trade it is almost impossible to draw a profile or track the money's move. This secures privacy and anonymity. Recently discussions are underway to track bearer money through the implementation of RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification), the EURO is poised to become the first currency to have this chip soon.
How do digital gold currencies fit in?
The digital gold currencies, which are the major players today do more or less work as bearer money, with one exception: GoldMoney (www.goldmoney.com). The latter requires a complete 'Know your client' (KYC) process, or you have a capped account with them for only petty cash.
E-gold and pecunix are not openly stating that they are bearer currencies, but you are able to open and operate an account with 'generic data'. Please always keep in mind that such an account based on 'generic data' (false data) can be becoming difficult to control, once the respective TOS are changing, or a dispute arises which makes court appearance necessary. One famous case in the 9-year-old e-gold history proves that: the costagold-affaire. Click here to read all about it or google it yourself.
So, e-gold (and pecunix) are de-facto bearer currencies, but de-iure - I would not count on it.
Are there de-facto AND de-iure bearer currencies left?
Two outfits currently exist, which clearly state that they uphold the anonymous and private holding of digital gold currencies, thus supporting the idea of bearer money:
First Digital International Bank started off as a 'regular' offshore bank at the millennium change. They were licensed in Montenegro, they started their business of private offshore banking as usual, but soon (2002) were stopped by the successful extortion/bribe of the USA to revoke over 1000 offshore banking licenses, Montenegro had granted from 1996-2000. Extortion, because they were offered a hefty development aid, so they couldn't resist. Most of those over 1000 offshore banks closed shop and disappeared. Not so First Digital International Bank: They restructured their business, tightened security and became a real cyber bank. Needless to say they integrated e-gold and GoldMoney into their set of allowed currencies, so banking clients can easily buy and sell gold, silver, platinum and palladium. They also offer the other major currencies, of course.
Banking with 1stdigibank.com means to really have a partner which de-iure states: We do follow the 'Don't Know Your Client'(DKYC) principle, in sharp contrast to the finance sector, who mostly follow the 'Know Your Client' rule. With DKYC in place holding an account at 1stdigibank.com makes it a bearer account, and consequently all assets in it bearer money.
1stdigibank.com has chosen the PrivateGoldTrader.com enterprise as one of their in/out-exchangers for e-gold and to receive credits ('1stdigits') at their bank. Both enterprises have the same foundation on which they run their business:
Don't Know Your Client (DKYC)!
1mdc.com has a different approach, but nonetheless has the assets stored in bearer form. The only drawback we can see with 1mdc is, that it seems to be a one-man cyber enterprise, with no real contingency in place. However, the owner and operator John Paul May is a veteran in the digital gold currency arena. Other activities of John Paul May include, but are not limited to, TheGoldCasino (www.thegoldcasino).
1mdc is a mere 'escrow account' to store e-gold without storage fees, and to enable its depositors to do business among each other without e-gold knowing about the deals. That enhances the privacy, and makes it also a bearer account/money situation.
1mdc does not have any links into the fiat world of banking, opposed to what you get at 1stdigibank.com
Conclusion of comparison between 1mdc.com and 1stdigibank.com:
1mdc.com is only to store your e-gold (after you have it already bought or earned elsewhere) without storage fees. The accounting of 1mdc makes business deals among 1mdc account holders opaque to e-gold.
1stdigibank.com is much more versatile than 1mdc. It keeps all transactions among its account holders anonymous and private and offers links to the financial world of banking. On top there are no storage fees, and they even pay a pretty high interest rate on your e-gold or goldmoney, if you chose to invest into a CD (yes, a gold-CD).
It's up to your gusto what you prefer, it may really depend on the scope of service you request.
Bearer bonds, bearer certificates and cash bills belong to the bearer. To be flip, possession is 100% of the law with a bearer bond. Bearer bonds can be stolen, but they aren't registered anywhere, which makes them useful for anonymity. All along the bottom of a bearer bond are little squares called coupons, which you cut out periodically and mail in to the issuer, and they'll send you back an interest check for that period's interest. Lots of financial phrases come from bearer bonds. When a bond trader talks about a bond's interest rate, she may use the word "coupon" interchangeably, as in, "That bond has a 7% coupon.". Meaning, it pays 7% interest per year. Then there's the phrase "clipping coupons", meaning someone is retired or independently wealthy and living on their bond interest. Every month the interest on one bond or other would come due, the coupons clipped and sent in to the bond's issuer in return for an interest check.
Most securities these days are registered to the owner somewhere, at a trustee, at the issuer, at a clearinghouse, or some combination of all. In fact, most securities these days don't exist in physical form at all and exist only on the books at clearinghouses and brokerages. This is why your stock broker squalls about "physical delivery" when you ask for a certificate. About a year ago, we talked about the Depository Trust Company, the clearing house for the New York Stock Exchange. They have entire issues there consisting of a single piece of paper in the clearinghouse vault which are traded entirely on a book entry basis, that is, only accounting entries are swapped when these securities change hands.