Executive Summary - Not a scam. It is a serious, well-funded initiative to deploy a gold-based global money alternative to fiat (paper) currency. It appears to have been under development for several years and is founded by a couple of really smart guys. It has many features including extremely low exchange fees (1%), extremely low entry cost, multiple vault locations, prepaid debit card, and access to physical gold.
Take a look at http://contrafactual.com/2016/01/21/roy-sebag-and-josh-crumb/
Long story - Disclaimer: I am posting this at the request of BitGold via an email (probably from the OP). As an early adopter of the BitGold platform I am more than willing to share my observations. I specifically did not read any of the other replies prior to posting this to avoid any bias.
I joined BitGold shortly after they announced operations in the US last August. After a significant amount of research, I opened an account and deposited $40 US to the New York vault (equivalent to 1.061g Au). I then followed with additional sized deposits to New York and Zurich. One of the things that I like about BitGold is the low cost of 1% per transaction. Shortly thereafter I requested a Prepaid Card. I did not realize it at the time, but the Prepaid Card was still in "beta". The first card said BitGold, the new ones say GoldMoney (BitGold acquired GoldMoney in May of 2015). In November I loaded a few hundred dollars on to the Prepaid Card to cover some emergency costs. Buying gold is easy via ACH transfer from my bank and it takes just a day or two (standard ACH time). I also purchased some gold with a credit card - equally easy. Loading the Prepaid Card through sale of gold also takes about a day (maybe less now). I had no problems using the Prepaid Card.
I have not yet ordered a 10g .9999 fine Au GoldCube, but here are some folks who did …
http://youtu.be/baRa8T_hywAhttp://youtu.be/vsYp8s0rps8BitGold also has nice little perks (that I totally wasn't expecting) like a Birthday Bonus 0.0nn g (where nn is your age, unless this was coincidental) and a recurring ACH bonus (for setting up a recurring ACH deposit - 10% of you recurring deposit up to some limit). Note that this is what I experienced, and I do not guarantee the these perks will continue or be available to every.
There appear to be many loud whiners out there who joined BitGold hoping to get free gold by signing up a lot of people under a special program. BitGold credited these whiners free gold, then took it back when the people they got to sign up failed to buy any gold. This was of course well documented in the terms and conditions. READ THE FINE PRINT. Still these whiners are bad mouthing BitGold because of this. Gotta hate whiners.
Oh, before I forget. BitGold has gone out of its way to be a good global citizen complying with the laws of all countries in which it does business. It has procedures in place to honor Anti Money Laundering and Know Your Customer laws. It uses military strength RSA 4096 and AES 256 encryption to guarantee secure transactions. Two factor authentication is available. Accounts can be accessed securely via website, Apple and Android apps.
Is BitGold as scam? No way, nope, nada, zip, 0 It is the real deal.
Will BitGold/GoldMoney remain a viable concern into the far future? Who knows. Their success will like all new companies depend on growth.
Do your own due diligence at
https://www.bitgold.com😎