From: blanc <blancw@accessone.com>
Date: Thu, 28 Mar 1996 18:48:28 +0800
To: "cypherpunks@toad.com>
Subject: RE: What backs up digital money?
Message-ID: <01BB1C0E.90D4B6C0@blancw.accessone.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


From: 	Hal

So I view dcash as a circulating currency, where the act of transfer in
some implementations requires some technical assistance from an agent
of the bank able to make digital signatures on its behalf.  It is more
than simply a mechanism for transferring funds from one account to
another (unless you think of government currency in those terms).  I
view it as possessing real value, as being a genuine asset in the same
sense as other forms of cash.
..................................................................................

Real money may need to be actually in existence somewhere in the form of metallic bars or coins, but I was thinking about how most of the time for me it is just a lot of abstract Money Mumbers:

.  I get automatic deposits of Money Numbers in my bank account;

.  I go to the ATM and enter a few Money Numbers and get some representative notes, as well as a slip of paper telling me how many Money Numbers I have left in my account;

.  I go to the store and use a card which debits my account with a certain quantity of Money Numbers;

.  I promise to work for a certain quantity of Money Numbers;

.  I request loans in terms of a certain quantity of Money Numbers, etc.

Except for when I have metallic coins in my hand, t's mostly abstract and becoming more-so, so that at the accelerating speed of the circulation of Money Numbers, only the banks must be concerned over whether these are really attached to anything solid and physically meaningful.  For me and others, it's based mostly on the supposition of value (itself an abstract concept which must be learned and understood in its relation to symbolism).

    ..
Blanc