At 2:19 PM 8/7/94 -0400, Perry E. Metzger wrote:

The regulators have taken ten years just to eliminate the restrictions on interstate banking, and they still haven't quite done the job yet (although hopefully the restrictions will go away by '96 or so.)

It really isn't to most of the individual banking entities' advantage for interstate banking to exist because almost all of them would merged out of existence. It isn't the regulators' fault; it's a wonder they got this far as fast as they did, and that's primarily because the foriegn markets are driving the regulators to it. Regulatory arbitrage. If there was a clearcut financial advantage to interstate banking to First Podunk Bank and Trust, it would have happened already.

They understood that stuff fairly well. They probably won't understand digital cash as well, although it will probably be even worse for us if they do.

Which, I believe, is the point of this thread. It's time to shuck and jive a bit. If it can be demonstrably proved that a market exists, that there's some boards of directors for those hoary old regulators to sit on in their golden years, then there's a chance to make retail trade settlement a reality. You can't do that without a legimate test, and you can't get that without mau-mauing the regulators some, eh? Bob Hettinga ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com) "There is no difference between someone Shipwright Development Corporation who eats too little and sees Heaven and 44 Farquhar Street someone who drinks too much and sees Boston, MA 02331 USA snakes." -- Bertrand Russell (617) 323-7923