Rolf Michelsen says:
On Fri, 27 May 1994, Perry E. Metzger wrote:
Rolf Michelsen says:
Before you get too enthusiastic remember that electronic cash is not legal tender
I have to mention, yet again, that this sort of phrasing is a product of the notion that digital cash is somehow a currency. It is not. It is an anonymous money transfer method. Saying "digicash is not legal tender" is sort of meaningless -- the real question is "is the currency being transfered legal tender".
Yes, and if you had quoted my entire message you would get my point. Since electronic cash is not legal tender -- just a way of transfering legal tender -- a clearing system which administrates the "real flow of money" must exist so that participants can exchange their "transfer tokens" to "real" cash.
It appears that you still insist on refering to the question of whether or not digital cash is "legal tender". The question isn't usually considered meaningful. When you say that "digital cash is not legal tender" you are making a reasonably meaningless statement. Its like comparing the flavor of the photograph of a dish of Chicken Kiev with the flavor of a photograph of a Granny Smith apple. Sure, you can make the comparison -- but usually people realize that there is some problem in levels -- usually one wants to compare the flavors of foods, not photographs of them. (The photographs have a taste, as do all objects, but no one in his right mind would eat them.) Are checks legal tender? No. Technically, they are not. No one ever bothers to mention this fact, however. Its not interesting. Checks are not legal tender, and neither are trucks filled with bank vaults. None the less, both are ways of transfering money. Neither is money-the-abstraction itself, but most people don't think thats noteworthy enough to make a big deal about. You mention that digital cash requires a clearing system. Thats true. Its also true that a champion marathon runner requires legs. Most people don't see fit to mention that -- it usually seems obvious. You say things like "without a clearing system digital cash is only a worthless token good for things like tolls". Thats untrue. Without a clearing system digital cash can't be used for ANYTHING. Without clearing, a bit of digital cash is just a number -- a large number with no more or less value than any one of the infinitely many other large numbers. A clearing system is INTEGRAL to digital cash. I can't just hand someone digital cash -- a clearing system has to be involved in all transactions. Perry