Wednesday, January 12, 2011

"Good as Gold"

In a sign of the times, Abu Dhabi's ritzy $3 billion government-owned Emirates Palace Hotel unveiled a gold dispensing ATM machine. The "Gold to Go" ATM, which is itself covered in 24-carat gold, dispenses gold bars up to 10 grams or customized gold coins. The machine monitors changes in the price of gold every ten minutes [gold prices reached a new all time high yesterday, over $1,245/ounce; 10 grams = U.S. $436]. The machine is the idea of German entrepreneur Thomas Geissler, chief executive of Ex oriente Lux AG; it first debuted at the Frankfurt International Airport in 2009. Geissler says he chose Abu Dhabi because . . . well, it's rich, they trust gold more than paper currency and they're no doubt up to their ears in U.S. dollars.

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