Why we still don't use digital cash

[georgemw at speakeasy.net]

On 15 Jun 2001, at 0:00, lcs Mixmaster Remailer wrote:

> George writes:

> > If you look at the process of obtaining digital cash abstractly,
> > I give you a bag of money,  you give me a bag of tokens I can
> > use to spend in shops,  it seems to me that there are in principle
> > two general sorts of ways that I can maintain my anonymity.
> > ...
> > 2) Just make it so you don't see my face when I get the bag of
> > tokens.
> >
> > This seems a lot more straightforward and natural to me.
> 
> Well, the problem is that to exchange cash for tokens, you need a
> way of sending cash to the bank.  But if this exchange is to be done
> electronically, then that means you are sending e-cash.  But your "tokens"
> *are* e-cash!  So your description shows how to get anonymous e-cash,
> but only if you already start with anonymous e-cash.


What I'm sending ISN'T necessarily e-cash. In principle it could be 
anything someone has agreed to "buy".  Also,  at least one method
of getting e-cash would be to literally hand over a bag of money to
someone in the physical world.

George