Electronic currency

Electronic currency also known as e-money, electronic cash, digital money, digital cash or digital currency and which refer to money or scrip that is exchanged only electronically. It involves the use of computer networks, internet, and the digital stored value systems. The examples of electronic currency are Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) and direct deposit. EFT refers to the computer-based systems used to perform financial transactions electronically while direct deposit is a banking term used to refer to certain systems used to transfer money.

Electronic Currency Trading System (ECTS) is an investment platform that offers its customers a safe, efficient way to trade foreign currencies against the strength and weakness of the US dollar. It involves converting base currency to a foreign currency at the market exchange rates through an online brokerage account.

Electronic currency allows its holder to buy the goods and services that the vastness of the internet offers. It can let you to do business and earn money from the investment by the lost transaction cost, it unlike the store business that will eat up your profit with a huge amount of fees. There are some examples of websites that can let people to do e-currency trading such as MG E-currency, JT GOLD.com.

There are some benefits of using the electronic currency. Firstly, the currencies can serve as universal media of exchange. If user acquired a global electronic currency, he or she can enter into any transactions around the world without paying any exchange fees. Secondly, the currencies provide global units of account that enable buyer and sellers able to compare which goods and services are worth without any calculation. The third benefit is the global e-currency serve as stable stores of value. The competition will drive out the unstable products from the market and the national monies, the private currencies will not be subject to the inflationary monetary policies of national governments and the special interests they represent.

Major electronic currencies on the net are:

PayPal located in San Jose, California, PayPal was founded in 1998 and was acquired by eBay in 2002. It is the safer, easier way to pay and get paid online. The service is available in many ways through credit cards, bank accounts, buyer credit or account balances, without sharing financial information. It enables global ecommerce by making payments possible across different locations, currencies, and languages.

Ikobo is an online payment system. Users can send and receive money online instantly from over 700,000 ATMs in over 170 international countries.

Moneybookers enable users to pay anyone with an email address. The recipient receives the payment instantly. It beats the cost, delay and inconvenience of traditional payment methods. Clients can send money from a credit card, transfer money to and from a bank account. Merchant business services offered with site integration for accepting payments.
Electronic currency- E-Micropayment systems:

The following are companies with e-micro payment products:

- Pay Loadz
- Bit Pass
- Peppercoin
- Pay stone

PayLoadz offers a unique digital download delivery service for anyone wishing to sell intangible goods online. Payloadz is a service to sell intangible products such as software, e-books, digital art, manuals, articles and files. It is an automated delivery service. This means that seller can go on vacation without worrying about sending download links to the consumers every time a payment is made.

Bitpass was one of the online payment systems for digital content and services. It was founded in December, 2002 and the co-founder was Kurt Huang. Besides, it also partnered with major technology and financial services companies such as Microsoft, PayPal, the Royal Bank of Scotland and First Data. Bit Pass system works similarly to a pre-paid telephone card such as you sign up for the service and put money into your account using a credit card or PayPal, which gives you credit towards the purchase of content.

Peppercoin(peppercoin.com) was founded by Ron Rivest and Silvio Micali with a vision to enable convenient and profitable credit and debit card use for small payments. The users do not require depositing credit in advance. All of the things they need to do, it is just enter their credit or debit cards information with the merchant online as usual.

Paystone Technologies Corp. is a private Internet payment and money transfer company dedicated to providing secure, easy, real time Internet transactions. Paystone was founded in 2001 and it provides an inexpensive online payment method without the risk of chargeback from fraudulent credit card use. Paystone can efficiently handle small financial transactions (micropayments) as low as $0.25. The ability to process micropayments opens a whole new world for entrepreneurs of all sizes. A small business or individual now has a method of generating revenue from their website quickly, easily and inexpensively. This makes a whole new range of content available to personal account holders. The large online merchant can also realize the full benefits of the Paystone solution to expand and increase the profitability of their business.