[cryptography] Digital cash in the news...

[Rayservers]

On 11/06/11 17:55, Eugen Leitl wrote:
> ----- Forwarded message from Steven Bellovin <smb at cs.columbia.edu> -----
> 
> From: Steven Bellovin <smb at cs.columbia.edu>
> Date: Sat, 11 Jun 2011 10:49:49 -0400
> To: Crypto discussion list <cryptography at randombit.net>
> Cc: cryptography at metzdowd.com
> Subject: Re: [cryptography] Digital cash in the news...
> X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.1084)
> Reply-To: Crypto discussion list <cryptography at randombit.net>
> 
> 
> On Jun 10, 2011, at 10:16 55PM, John Levine wrote:
> 
>> In article <021CCBA9-9203-4896-8412-481B94595B20 at cs.columbia.edu> you write:
>>> http://gcn.com/articles/2011/06/09/bitcoins-digital-currency-silk-road-charles-schumer-joe-manchin.aspx?s=gcndaily_100611
>>
>> I wouldn't call bitcoins digital cash.  They're more like digital
>> tulip bulbs, or bearer shares of theglobe.com.
>>
>> Whatever they are, it's a self limiting problem since the bubble will
>> burst soon enough.
>>
> My point in posting the item to this list was not to discuss whether or not
> bitcoins are real digital cash, but to note that the technology has now
> been publicly mentioned at the policy level.
> 
> But is it cash?  When my son was four years old, he asked me why a dollar
> bill was worth a dollar.  He didn't like my answer, even though it was
> absolutely correct: "because we all agree that it is".  If you can buy
> things with it, it's money, unless it has some intrinsic utility of its own;
> if it does have intrinsic value, it's a barter transaction.  Calling it
> "digital tulip bulbs" is a way of saying that bitcoins are not a very
> stable currency; with that I have no quarrel.  (Don't get me started
> on the gold standard (I shouldn't even add this note).  But I do suggest

Oh, lets get you started. Go on, you already have:

> you read the (very brief) description in Steinberg's new biography "Bismarck:
> A Life" of the economic woes the gold standard caused in late 19th century
> Prussia and the other states of the Reich .)

I see.

My question, Steve, is how does "1 dollar" come into existence?

Lets make that three questions. How does 1 dollar in your bank account get there
and how does a 1 dollar Federal Reserve Note come into existence. Are they one
and the same?

Anything else you wish to add regarding a gold standard, I'm all ears.

Best,
Ray

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