From: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)
Date: Fri, 10 Nov 1995 05:54:39 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: ecash speed
Message-ID: <acc7a3f604021004b22d@[205.199.118.202]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 8:21 PM 11/9/95, jim bell wrote:

>The problem:  How do you pay, say, 1/10th of a penny for a good or service
>if the minimum denominated coin is a penny?   This is important, because as
>we all know the cost of providing computer services of all kinds (and data
>transmission) can be expected to continue to drop as time progresses.   If
>we allow the minimum size coin to control our lives, it will keep prices
>higher than they ought to be and prevent low-cost services from existing.

A non-problem.

Ask any business whether the "minimum denominated coin" is a penny. Perhaps
the minimum denoominated _coin_ is a penny, in the U.S., but vast numbers
of widgets are priced at sub-cent levels.

True, no purchase orders are written for sub-cent prices, but this is a
transaction cost issue, not something basic to the currency. (Likewise,
Hal's concerns about ecash speed are basically transaction cost issues.)

--Tim May

Views here are not the views of my Internet Service Provider or Government.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
Corralitos, CA              | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^756839      | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."