Here he discusses how GoldMoney works, and why it's better than storing physical metal in a bank or purchasing an ETF. In this interview, where Turk gives us his outlook on the economy and the prospects for gold.

Can you explain what GoldMoney is? And what is the difference between buying gold bullion and GoldMoney?

GoldMoney is a very convenient, economic and safe way to buy gold and silver on-line and have that gold and silver stored for you in vaults in Zurich or London. A Swiss company called VIA MAT International, which is a major European secure storage and transport company, operates the vaults. And they have specialised bullion vaults where our customers' gold is stored. Then, you can use GoldMoney as a form of payment or just let it sit there in your account as a form of savings.

There are two ways to view it: it's like on-line banking but your account is denominated in goldgrams and mills, rather than dollars and cents. In contrast to banking, where the bank has an obligation to you, there's no liability created by GoldMoney. You do not ‘deposit' your gold, as you deposit money in a bank. We're just simply storing in a secure vault gold that you own.

It's also like PayPal in the sense that you can click gold from your account to someone else's account, if you want to use it as currency. But you do not need to use that feature and can just use GoldMoney as a savings account, but where you are saving real, sound money – gold and silver.

The key behind GoldMoney is the governance procedures that we put in place. People often ask me what three questions they should be asking before they buy gold. It's always: 'Is your gold safe?' 'Is your gold safe?' 'Is your gold safe?'

You do not want to take risks with your bullion, which should be viewed as the bedrock asset in your portfolio. So what we have done with GoldMoney is that we've taken all the steps necessary to provide customers assurances of integrity that, in fact, their gold is safe.

Image: An Indian salesgirl arranges gold ornaments in a shop in Hyderabad. | Photograph: Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty Images