Hello folks, with this article I won't cover in depth each e-currency by telling its characteristics and other info you can find in many places.

Here I will focus in what matters more (in my opinion): my experience with each one.
I know I promised this article almost an year ago, but I that time I clearly didn't have enough experience with most e-currencies, mainly LR at that time.
Now I use LR, AP, STP and MoneyBookers (although I won't cover the this one because it's not used in hyips, but mainly in betting world) in a daily basis, and sometimes PM and GDP

E-currencies

Liberty Reserve: well known as LR. This is by far the most popular e-currency in hyips nowadays, with virtually every hyip accepting it (with just some rare exceptions).
It's main feature it's the ease of use, because you don't need to verify anything, just open an account and start playing with it, in full anonymity, and with as many accounts as you want.
And all transactions are final, meaning that all money you receive is yours and won't be reverted.

However, these advantages also play against it:
-it's the currency most attacked by hackers/malicious software, because if anyone "cleans" your account, there is very little you can do.
-it helps scammers, as they won't have problems with blocked accounts or something (although this is a good thing for decent admins)
-by being totally anonymous it poses some potential issues, in case something happen to it just like happened to StrictPay. I mean...the accounts are anonymous, how do you expect to prove the ownership of a determined account(s) if something bad happens to LR?

Another thing I don't like in LR it's the lack of direct options to deposit/withdraw. This can increase the flexibility of the options to deposit/withdraw by using third party exchangers, but unfortunately in this industry is full of scammers, and sometimes exchangers are part of it.

Overall I like Liberty Reserve for a daily use, but I wouldn't trust big amounts of funds on it, due to potential hacking issues, and lack of being properly regulated (being based in Costa Rica doesn't give me too much security, just look at SP situation...)

About good exchangers to deposit/withdraw LR, I will give some later in this article.

PerfectMoney- or PM. I don't use much because for me it's another "LR": no KYC policy and irreversible transfers. And every hyip accepting it also accepts LibertyReserve.
However PM adds what LR lacks: direct options to deposit and withdraw, without the need of third party exchangers.
Still, PM never got as popular as LR, maybe because of some rumors in past and some problems they had with bank wires withdrawals (pretty much like SP faced initially).

Just like LR, it's good and easy to use, but trusting big amounts? Simply no.


Global Digital Pay- or GDP. Just like PM, it doesn't add nothing substantial over LR.
And for me...it's still a new kid that need to prove himself.
Some severe downtime it faced back in March haven't helped at all its reputation.


StrictPay- (SP) it's a dead duck right now. It's not even worth of being mentioned, apart of warning to not deposit any money on it now.


AlertPay- (AP). This processor is in another level from LR/PM/GDP, because it is a KYC (know your customer) processor and allow charge backs and accounts blocking.
This adds a lot more security, because it means less problems with hackers, and mainly, can be a good ally for your hyips investments against some admins, as you can complain in case the admin don't want to pay you.
Also, by blocking accounts, it can means you have a chance of recovering part of your initial in those cases where a program fall before you are in profit.

The biggest use I gave to AP was to play in high-ROI games, because of it "extra" layer of protection when a program falls. While those using LR/PM/GDP are stuck with the losses...with AP you usually have better chances to not lose everything, if you are not in profit.
Of course sometimes the admins are pretty clever and start withdrawing since the beginning of the program, or offer "free" exchange from LR/PM/GDP to AP, to get rid of the later. When this happen, it is usually a red flag, because means the admin is preparing the bags to leave.
And also means your chances to get back money in case of site closure gets much lower.

Of course AP isn't just good things, and in fact, these "features" that give you some protection can also be a problem:
-AP can block accounts of paying programs, bringing them a lot of cashflow trouble. This affects severely low-ROI and high-ROI programs, although in the laters it is almost a death setence because things happens at a too fast pace.

But why does AP blocks accounts of paying hyips?
-most accounts are opened with fake/robbed documents, or bought in black market.
- if there are too many complains from jealous people, AP will probably block the account to double check what's going on. And obviously, the admin can't prove the ownership of the account most of times.
-and then here is my half-baked theory...imagine yourself in AP position. Now imagine someone opened an account with faked documents with a regular mail and name.
Then imagine what's happen next....the account, being used for a hyip, start getting lots of money entering on it.
And then? I bet AP becomes like "wtf!! Why there is so much money in this account in just couple days", and with this thought it's not hard to think why the account is blocked to verify the documents better and/or ask more more to make sure the account is not robbed or something.
Then you know what happens most of times...the hyip admin can't prove the account belongs to him...

Keep in mind that this is an half-baked theory, just based in assumptions, and because many accounts get blocked a few days after the launch of the hyip.

Now, based in my experience, I separate two kind of accounts (this also works for STP):
-those that have an name and email totally different from the hyip. These kind of accounts probably bought in black market and have a high probability of being blocked very quickly.

-those that have a name and email associated with the hyip site. These have lower incidence of getting blocked. Probably because AP is aware they are being used for a hyip, and maybe double check it very early.


Still, when a program gets its AP account blocked, what you prefer:
-being part of LR crew and face a potential loss in case the program can't survive?
-or being part of people using AP, and have some probability of being, even if not fully, refunded?

For me it's obvious....for high-ROI games it's AP or STP.
For low-ROI programs, things are a bit different because you can only complain within 30days (or something similar) in case the hyip stops paying.
Honestly, I don't have experience about how things are done after these 30days.

Another features I love in AP are:
-direct bank transfer for deposits and withdrawals, with low fees. But keep in mind this option might not be available in your country.
-much more regulated than LR and similars. AP is under Canada and US laws. If I remember well, E-gold was also under US legislation and got problems for this. I don't know it happened to E-gold (I suspect because it was used for money laundering), but probably won't happen to AP because it is more strict about KYC policies and money laundering.


So my overall opinion about AP: great for daily use, after the verification. And also, I trust bigger amounts on it than on LR/PM/GDP.
But I still don't trust too much money...we never know what can happen lol.


SolidTrustPay-(STP). I like it more and more. Overall it is pretty much like AP, and offers a similar "layer" of protection.
People usually like it more than AP because it blocks much fewer accounts from paying programs....however this is mainly because STP is nowhere popular as AP, and if STP was used as much as AP in hyips, I would bet we would also see a similar rate of accounts blocked.

Like I said: it is AP revisited.
But there is one feature I simply love on it over AlertPay: the debit card option to withdraw funds. It's simply awesome, I usually use the priority service and on next days the funds are loaded in my card, allowing me to withdraw in most ATMs.
With AP I am stuck with ~5days to see the money in my bank account.

I heard some issues with debit cards in past, mainly delays in getting funds loaded to cards.
Honestly I don't know if this still happens because I am not the best example, as I usually only load my card with ~100€ (~135$) from time to time.
So, for small investors like me, I can say it works pretty well. For bigger amounts, try yourself and tell us your experiences.



Exchangers

There are plenty of them in this industry, some great, others good and some that are simply crap or worst, scammers.
Just an important note: for STP and AP I advise to use approved exchangers because both can annoy you if you get funds "not approved". I never had any issue, but I heard stories of AP accounts getting blocked because of this.

eCardOne- the first exchanger I ever used, it even had another name. It was to load my LR account.
For European people this is one of best options because the bank wires are under SEPA agreement, meaning the fees are pretty low (for me was 3€ if I remember correctly).
Also, this exchanger has a big reputation (or at least used to have).

Nowadays I use it most for instant exchanges between LR usd and LR eur, and to/from GDP.


xChanger- the exchanger I use most and my favorite. My relation with exchanger started a long time ago, when I was much more newbie, and the admin helped me a lot several times by exchanging from e-currencies not listed on the commercial service to LR.
This not only was a big help at that time, but also increased a lot my trust on admin.

What I mainly like in this exchanger is:
-cover all 6 major e-currencies used in hyips.
-the exchanges from LR to STP/AP are usually very, very quickly if the admin is online (check if live support is active or not).
-exchanges between LR/GDP/PM are also fast from what I heard.
-exchanges from STP to LR are also fast, usually in 1-2 days, because he needs STP approval.

Exchanges from AP to LR is something I never did. But if you want to do then you should be aware that you need to verify yourself in xChanger service to prove the AP account belongs to you. I think this is something required by AP.


GoldexPay- I personally don't have experience with it, but always heard good things from it, so I think it's worth to be mentioned here.


ExtremeExchange- another exchanger I have only good experiences. The admin is the owner of ExtremeSurf monitor and blog.
I used it a few times to exchange from LR to STP (the fees were lower than xChanger) and when StrictPay was falling, because it was one of very few exchangers still accepting it.
I think it only lacks AP to be a "complete" exchanger.

When I used it, exchanges were also fast, but I don't know if this is still the norm because the admin has been quieter on his blog because of personal life options (see here), so it's hard to know if this also affected the speed of the exchanges or not.
I think the best way to know is to email the admin before starting the exchange to see how fast he answers. This way you will have a better idea of how much time (in average) the exchanges will take.


Onlychange and autoconverter- two small services I use mainly to exchange between PM/LR instantly. The fees are not the best, but I like them because are instant.
But keep in mind these don't have a big/considerable reputation like those I mentioned above, so I advise to only use small amounts.


And I think it's everything....all (or nearly all) my experience with e-currencies and exchangers here.