Gold
easy gold - a neutral account
EasyGold
Escrow
Your funds do not move to Africa. They are held by a neutral attorney outside the continent and released only when the gold arrives and your independent assay confirms the specification.
How the arrangement Works
The IOLTA account sits at the centre of the transaction. It is not held by EasyGold. It is held by an attorney outside Africa, agreed between buyer and seller before the transaction begins. The buyer's funds go in. They do not come out until two conditions are met: the gold arrives at the destination, and the buyer's independent assay confirms the specification.
1
step one
The account is agreed
Before any funds move, buyer and seller agree on the attorney and the IOLTA account that will hold them. Either party may make the proposal. The buyer conducts due diligence on the holding firm before anything is deposited. The account must sit outside Africa.
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II
step two
Funds are deposited
The buyer deposits the full transaction value. From this point, the seller has a guarantee of payment. The funds sit in a regulated attorney trust account, outside the African monetary system, for the duration of the transaction.
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III
step three
The transaction proceeds
The gold ships. The buyer's funds remain in trust at the IOLTA account until the conditions for release are met. Neither party can act unilaterally during this period.
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IV
step four
Release is triggered
When the gold arrives and the buyer's independent assay confirms the specification, the IOLTA account is released. The seller receives the funds by direct transfer, or the account remains in place for the next transaction with payment settled by MT-103.
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How the match is made
Sellers who work with escrow arrangements arrive with that preference already established.
By the time EasyGold is involved, the seller has decided what suits them. The same is true of buyers. When a buyer's preference for IOLTA escrow aligns with a seller already set up to work with it, and when both parties can agree on the account, a match exists.
EasyGold is not the escrow agent. The account is held by an independent attorney, chosen by the parties themselves.
Our role is to identify the match between a buyer and a seller whose arrangements are compatible, and to ensure that both sides understand what they are agreeing to before the transaction begins.
No model on this site sits above another. Escrow, Zero CIF, EasyGold CIF, and Tri-Party CIF are equal in standing.
Each protects the buyer from a seller who might not deliver, and the seller from a buyer who might not pay. The question is not which model is preferable. It is which model fits the buyer and seller who are already in front of us.
Before funds move
IOLTA stands for Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts. It is a specific, regulated instrument used by licensed attorneys to hold client funds in trust. It is not a generic holding arrangement. An attorney operating an IOLTA account is subject to professional oversight in their jurisdiction, and those funds are kept entirely separate from the attorney's own accounts.
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Before any funds are deposited, a buyer should confirm three things: that the attorney is licensed and in good standing in their jurisdiction, that the account is a genuine IOLTA instrument, and that there is no undisclosed relationship between the attorney and the seller.
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The account may be proposed by either party. A seller with an established relationship with an attorney outside Africa may put that arrangement forward. A buyer operating through their own corporate structure may propose their own account. The criterion is straightforward: both parties must be satisfied with the arrangement before funds move.
Buyers who prefer institutional custody of gold collateral may find Tri-Party CIF the closer fit
To discuss this further
Escrow is not a product with a price and a booking form. It is a conversation.
If you have reached this page, you are likely already thinking seriously about how a transaction can be structured with real protection on both sides. That is the right starting point.