1992-11-30 - Electronic Banking

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From: Eric Hughes <hughes@soda.berkeley.edu>
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Message Hash: 1590adbd3067795c9bc9ff0e372a39b2ffa1e40c4929306907550e9597870743
Message ID: <9211302303.AA02723@soda.berkeley.edu>
Reply To: <9211301830.AA23870@nano.noname>
UTC Datetime: 1992-11-30 23:04:22 UTC
Raw Date: Mon, 30 Nov 92 15:04:22 PST

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From: Eric Hughes <hughes@soda.berkeley.edu>
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 92 15:04:22 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Electronic Banking
In-Reply-To: <9211301830.AA23870@nano.noname>
Message-ID: <9211302303.AA02723@soda.berkeley.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



Hal mentions all the problems a going concern would have with an
electronic banking: patent on the blind signature, RSA license also
required, acceptable use policy, underlying legality.

>I do think, though, that an informal digital cash system, presented as
>a research project or an educational game, would be able to slip
>between the cracks of the legal system, much as PGP has done.  

I agree.  An experimental money system should be fine, practically
speaking.  There will be no problem if no goods or services change
hands.  If everything is scored in points, then there is no concern
about money at all.

More generally, a digital money system is isomorphic to a conserved
quantity server.  For example, if I were to write a distributed
multi-player simulation game, I could represent conserved quantities
such as fuel and ammunition as the equivalent digital money tokens.
That is, in order to fire, I have to "spend" a bullet.

Eric





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