In Search of Genuine DigiCash

[Robert Hettinga]

At  9:55 PM 8/27/94 +0100, p.v.mcmahon.rea0803 at oasis.icl.co.uk wrote:

>There has to be a business reason for change to any existing practice;
>a general infrastructure for electronic payments is not going to be
>adopted by banks just because there are available or emerging technologies.

True enough, but if there was a way for a bank to benefit (underwriting
referral fees) from an off-line cash settlement mechanism, they might want
to jump into that market with both feet.

What this means the possibility of "institutional" digital cash.

OK. So, you just up the denominations and let corporations settle their
cash business on a point to point basis.

The banks take a fee at the gate each time a digital cash certificate is
issued. In this case, you can really call these "digital banknotes" as Eric
preferrs, because such a euphamism will keep the IRS at bay for a few
minutes. These won't be done offline, because corporate treasurers will
scream for the interest. However, they will be useful for international
trade because of their transmission efficiency, and and probably their
security. Everyone's happy.

Cheers,
Bob Hettinga

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