Dollar Depository Receipts and Electronic Friends Trading and Repo Transactions

1 . A method comprising:

receiving, by at least one processor, from a first user a request to create an account;

receiving, by the at least one processor, from the first user a designation of a plurality of accountholders of the account;

receiving, by the at least one processor, from the first user a designation of a subset of the plurality of accountholders authorized to transfer account assets out of the account, the subset of the plurality of accountholders comprising a second user;

receiving, by the at least one processor, from the first user a designation of rules specifying how accountholders may be added or removed from the account;

causing, by the at least one processor, the account to be activated;

receiving, by the at least one processor, from the second user a request to trade an asset of the account;

causing, by the at least one processor, the requested trade;

adding, by the at least one processor, a new accountholder to the account in accordance with the rules specifying how accountholders may be added or removed.

2 . (canceled)

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, by the at least one processor, a request to use account assets in a repo transaction;

causing, by the at least one processor, the repo transaction to occur,

in which the request to use account assets in a repo transaction comprises defining an interest rate, an expiration date of the repo transaction, an account asset subject to the repo transaction, and an asset outside of the account that is subject to the repo transaction.

4 . (canceled)

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

before causing the requested trade, determining, by the at least one processor, whether account parameters specify that the second user is authorized to make the requested trade.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

generating, by the at least one processor, in the account a mutual fund comprising a plurality of financial instruments;

receiving, by the at least one processor, from a third user a request to buy into the mutual fund in the account;

receiving, by the at least one processor, from the third user an amount of funds;

purchasing, using the amount of funds, additional assets for the mutual fund;

transmitting, by the at least one processor, to the third user indicia indicating partial ownership of the mutual fund in the account.

7 . (canceled)

8 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

receiving, by the at least one processor, a request to combine the mutual fund with a second mutual fund in a second account;

receiving, by the at least one processor, from an authorized accountholder of the first account an acceptance of the request to combine the mutual fund with the second mutual fund;

causing, by the at least one processor, the mutual fund and the second mutual fund to be combined into a single mutual fund; and

determining an allocation of ownership of the combined mutual fund among accountholders of the account and accountholders of the second account.

9 - 11 . (canceled)

12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

receiving from an accountholder authorized to transfer account funds an instruction to enter into the proposed sale and repurchase agreement and to transfer an amount of money to the party pursuant to the agreement, in which the sale and repurchase agreement defines an amount of account funds to be transferred, one or more assets to be transferred into the account, an interest rate or interest payment amount, and a future settlement date;

responsive to the instruction, causing, by the at least one processor, the amount of money to be transferred from the account to the party;

responsive to the instruction, causing, by the at least one processor, the one or more assets to be transferred into the account;

on the settlement date, causing, by the at least one processor, the one or more assets to be transferred from the account back to the party; and

on the settlement date, causing, by the at least one processor, the money plus an interest amount to be transferred from the party into the account.

13 . (canceled)

14 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving from a party a request to use one or more assets in the account pursuant to a proposed sale and repurchase agreement (repo).

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

receiving from an accountholder authorized to transfer account assets an instruction to enter into the proposed sale and repurchase agreement and to transfer the requested one or more assets to the party pursuant to the agreement, in which the sale and repurchase agreement defines account assets to be transferred, an amount of money to be transferred into the account, an interest rate or interest payment amount, and a future settlement date;

responsive to the instruction, causing, by the at least one processor, the money to be transferred from the party to the account;

responsive to the instruction, causing, by the at least one processor, the amount of money to be transferred into the account;

on the settlement date, causing, by the at least one processor, the one or more assets to be transferred from the party back to the account; and

on the settlement date, causing, by the at least one processor, the amount of money plus an interest amount to be transferred from the account to the party.

16 . (canceled)

17 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, by the at least one processor, from the first user, a designation of a rule that at least one of:

specifies initial requirements that must be met before the account can be created;

specifies a minimum amount of funds that must be contributed to the account before it can be activated;

specifies a minimum number of user who must join the account before it can be activated;

specifies how ownership of account assets will be distributed among accountholders;

specifies managerial fees for managing the account;

specifies which accountholders are authorized to trade account assets for other assets;

specifies how and when an accountholder may redeem funds in the account based on a portion of the account owned by said accountholder;

specifies a limit on the value of assets in the account that may be traded;

specifies a restriction on the types of assets that may be purchased using account funds;

concerns the display of account information to accountholders;

concerns the display of account information to accountholders;

governs how a logo associated with the account may be determined by accountholders;

specifies counterparties that may not trade with the account;

governs the combining of assets of the account with assets of another account;

governs the combining of the account with another account;

governs how accountholders earn points redeemable for value;

governs how to measure a financial performance of a portfolio of the account;

specifies penalties that will be assessed against accountholders for a plurality of offending behaviors; and

specifies conditions for adding and removing accountholders from the account.

18 - 34 . (canceled)

35 . The method of claim 1 , in which the account is created for a child and governed by guidelines specified by a parent of the child.

36 . (canceled)

37 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining, by the at least one processor, information about an accountholder based on account activity by the accountholder and communications from the accountholder;

selecting, by the at least one processor, one of a plurality of advertisements for the accountholder based on the information determined about the accountholder;

causing, by the at least one processor, the selected advertisement to be communicated to the accountholder.

38 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, by the at least one processor, a video from an accountholder of the account;

causing an indicia of the video to be displayed to a plurality of users;

receiving a selection of the indicia by a user;

responsive to the selection, causing the video to be displayed to the user;

causing a rating indicia associated with the video to be displayed to the user;

receiving a selection of the rating indicia;

responsive to receiving a selection of the rating indicia, prompting the user for rating information about the video;

receiving, by the at least one processor, rating information about the video.

39 . (canceled)

40 . The method of claim 38 , further comprising:

receiving rating information for a plurality of videos uploaded by a plurality of users including the accountholder;

aggregating the rating information received for each video;

determining a highest rated video from among the plurality of videos, in which the determined highest rated video comprises the video received from the accountholder;

causing a listing of highest rated videos to be displayed, the listing comprising an identification of the video as the highest rated video.

41 . The method of claim 38 , in which the video comprises a tutorial about a financial concept.

42 . (canceled)

43 . The method of claim 38 , further comprising:

responsive to determining that the video received from the accountholder is the highest rated video, awarding, by the at least one processor, a benefit to the accountholder, in which the benefit comprises one of (1) money, (2) a right to select a provider of content to the system, and a right to select a person to be invited to provide content to the system concerning a designated topic.

44 - 46 . (canceled)

47 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving rating information about a plurality of logos, each logo associated with an account;

based on the rating information, determining a highest rated logo;

awarding a benefit to an account associated with the highest rated logo.

48 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving from an account holder a request to allocate account funds to a group event;

communicating the request to allocate account funds to a group event to an accountholder authorized to allocate funds of the account;

receiving from the accountholder authorized to allocate funds to the account an instruction to allocate funds to the group event; and

causing the funds to be allocated to the group event.

49 . (canceled)

50 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

offering a sale of a Dollar Depository receipt, in which the act of offering comprises causing information about the Dollar Depository Receipt to be displayed at a display device, the Dollar Depository Receipt representing a fractional interest in a financial instrument traded on an exchange, the information comprising a time associated with a pricing of the Dollar Depository Receipt and an indication of the financial instrument;

receiving, by at least one processor, from a user a request to purchase a first quantity of the Dollar Depository Receipt;

receiving, by the at least one processor, from the user payment for the first quantity of the Dollar Depository Receipt; and

transmitting, by the at least one processor, indicia of ownership of the first quantity of the Dollar Depository Receipt to the user.

51 - 53 . (canceled)

54 . An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory having instructions stored thereon which, when executed, direct the at least one processor to:

receive from a first user a request to create an account;

receive from the first user a designation of a plurality of accountholders of the account;

receive from the first user a designation of a subset of the plurality of accountholders authorized to transfer account assets out of the account, the subset of the plurality of accountholders comprising a second user;

receive from the first user a designation of rules specifying how accountholders may be added or removed from the account;

cause the account to be activated;

receive from the second user a request to trade an asset of the account;

cause the requested trade;

add a new accountholder to the account in accordance with the rules specifying how accountholders may be added or removed.

55 . A tangible computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that are configured to cause at least one processor to:

receive from a first user a request to create an account;

receive from the first user a designation of a plurality of accountholders of the account;

receive from the first user a designation of a subset of the plurality of accountholders authorized to transfer account assets out of the account, the subset of the plurality of accountholders comprising a second user;

receive from the first user a designation of rules specifying how accountholders may be added or removed from the account;

cause the account to be activated;

receive from the second user a request to trade an asset of the account;

cause the requested trade;

add a new accountholder to the account in accordance with the rules specifying how accountholders may be added or removed.