The World Gold Council publishes a monthly list of official gold holdings of 112 countries and institutions. This list is mainly based on data reported to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). E-GOLD has 44,800 ounces in the vault, which is equal to 1.4 tonnes (at 32,151 troy ounces per metric tonne). This puts e-gold on rank #88 of the 112 countries. It means that e-gold has already more gold than 24 of the IMF member countries. Not bad for a young Internet company. The WGC statistics reveal some worrying aspects of the national currencies: 1. The total gold holding of the 109 countries + IMF + BIS + ECB is just under 33,000 tonnes which is on average only 12% of the countries' reserves. The USA reported 8,136 tonnes (56%), the Euro countries 12,427 tonnes (31%), the IMF 3,217 tonnes and Switzerland 2,419 tonnes (40%). These four groups own 80% of the total official gold 2. The statistics include gold leased out to bullion banks and manufacturers. The physical gold owned by the central banks might be less. I have not yet obtained accurate statistics to determine the extent of the gold leasing 3. Harry Schultz estimated in January 2001 that 78% of the non-gold reserves are held in US Dollars or US Treasury bonds. This places an extreme responsibility on Alan Greenspan to maintain the international confidence in the dollar. 4. These statistics reinforce the conclusion that the Dollar and all national currencies are backed by someone else's liability. As long as everyone has confidence in the system it will work. However, this week the Turkish Lira collapsed in value by 28%. 5. Douglas Jackson's comment a few days ago about the possibility that Bullion banks might not always have the physical gold in stock, just highlighted the fact that most institutions have short positions in gold. This is very profitable while the price is falling and many institutions would be very vulnerable in case the price would start to go up. In a new book, The Future of Money, Mr Bernard Lietaer (ex- Belgian National Bank) makes a strong argument for commodity backed currencies (like e-gold) and for time based community currencies (like TimeDollars and LETS). He does not spare his criticism of fiat currencies. It is worth reading. The tide is changing against national currencies and e-gold, e-dinar and GoldMoney are well placed to become major methods of payment in the future. Sources: World Gold Council web site February 2001: www.gold.org The Future of Money : www.transaction.net/money/book The Harry Schultz letter as published on www.gold-eagle.com --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: archive@jab.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]