For those interested in the first bank to back Ecash: Mark Twain Bank opened to serve the wealthy suburbs of Saint Louis (Ladue and Town & Country) a few years ago. It was meant to be a public "private bank" for sophisticated customers. A few years ago when the rules were eased, it started offering accounts and CDs denominated in 25 foreign currencies. These accounts were meant for international investors and business types in the area. They were discovered by "hard money" newsletters and became popular with that crowd. They have been the cheapest place to get foreign currency accounts in the US. Initially, the bank didn't realize that this sort of "hedge" market existed but have since exploited it fairly well. These accounts are FDIC insured up to $100,000.00 in $US equivalents. Obviously, exchange losses are not covered by FDIC insurance. The Ecash trial involves opening a World Currency Access Account which *is* FDIC insured and using it to fund your Ecash account which is *not* insured. They are treating the Ecash Mint part of their operations and the various customer Ecash accounts as investment accounts (hence the investor sophistication disclosure questions on the application form). Unanswered questions --- What will the SEC say? Mark Twain seems to be carrying on the fine old tradition of Saint Louis banks being a bit independent and out in front of the crowd. Other examples include Southwest Bank always leading the nation on Prime Rate changes and the Saint Louis Federal Reserve Bank (the only FRB to publish a hard money newsletter). I may wait for the Swedish Postal Bank to start offering its Ecash accounts just cause I like foreign climes. DCF "The Revolution will *not* be FDIC insured BTW."