-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 I'm learning a lot this morning. Thank you Adam, for a splendid taxonomy. I'll take one more shot at this, though sooner or later you'd think I'd stop pissing in the wind. :-). At 2:50 AM +0100 4/26/03, Adam Back wrote:
Re. the side discussion about whether it's fair to call these tokens coins as the value lies in the double spend database rather than the coin, I had the same discussion with Bob some time ago, and I concur.
I'd argue the p2p offline Brands option is more "coin" like in that you (personally) can spend the coin without relying on the double-spend database (providing the payee doesn't do an online deposit before accepting your payment).
The value is controlled by the entity holding the token. The fact that you're actually calling it a "token", above, should give you a hint. Besides, even in book-entry transactions, the value of the asset is controlled by the holder of the asset, not the clearinghouse. That's the point to building transaction systems in the first place, that, and to do so without repudiation of the transaction. As I've said before, people have to think about what's happening financially, and stop conflating "off-line" with "bearer". The fact that a given protocol requires a double-spend database, but the database can *only* prevents non-repudiation, and, most important, can say *nothing* about *who* owns the asset in question *unless* they double spend, means that assets transacted using that protocol can be said to be held in bearer form, and, as such, are no different, financially, from assets transacted using a coin, or a note, or a bond, or a certificate -- or a token. Think of it as a financial Turing test. If it quacks, etc. Cheers, RAH -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP 8.0 - not licensed for commercial use: www.pgp.com iQA/AwUBPqqC6MPxH8jf3ohaEQIZ6QCePGcrl2+Ur9yqdatuHX52VEaIJYwAoIf5 tKxVfYhVypQLRu0ktb29ZMKq =ONzc -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'