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[Jim Dixon]

In message <9408070032.AA17321 at ah.com> Eric Hughes writes:
> One assumption here is that someone in one country can easily pay
> someone in another country, and an automatic currency conversion can
> take place.  The prerequisites to happen generally for that are the
> electronification of retail money in both jurisdictions and a
> retail-level currency exchange system.  None of this really exists
> yet, although the first beginnings are here.  Also, for anonymous
> payment for such overseas services, anonymous transfer in at least one
> of the two currencies is necessary.

The last point is certainly not true.  If user X communicates with
service A (a gateway) in one country to purchase something from
service B in another country, X can settle accounts with A anonymously
(say in US$) and then A and B can settle accounts with one another
(say in sterling) openly.

In fact, few Europeans would object to simply trading in digital
money denomenated in US dollars.   No currency conversion is necessary.
Many European companies have US dollar bank accounts because the
banks charge so much money for conversion of currencies.
--
Jim Dixon