There has been all this talk about potential legal problems with banks issuing ecash. Lots of terms have been tossed around which I only bearly understand like "bearer bonds" and such. And some things I understand more, like the prohibition on private scrip. But someone a long time ago brought up traveller's checks, and the similarity between them and ecash. The similarity seems pretty darn close to me. You pay some money to American Express, you get a note issued by them, you give it to a merchant, he redeems in with AE for money. There's a fee charged somewhere along the line. Well, you pay some money to First Digital Bank, you basically get an electronic promissary note, you give it to a merchant for a service or product, and he redeems it with First Digital for US dollars. I dont' know much about economics, but as far as I can tell this seems a pretty solid analogy. If I'm missing something, can someone try to explain to me using small words what it is I'm missing. Otherwise, what regulation is there of people who issue traveller's checks? It's clearly not _illegal_ to issue travellers checks, so I dont' see why it would be illegal under current laws to issue ecash, despite all the interesting talk about bearer bonds and private issued scrip. But perhaps there is strict regulation or something?