Re: The Bank of the Internet!? (fwd)

[Arthur Chandler <arthurc@crl.com>]

   It's quite a jolt, to see one's post on one list (FutureCulture) pop up
on another list (Cypherpunks). Well, it pays to stay networked.  :<)
   I understand -- and believe I stated in the post -- that all these
efforts seem to be in the future conditional tense (or is it future
optimistic tense?).  But I'll repeat what I mentioned to Eric at the meeting:
  It jarred me to see someone so blithely planning to enter into the world
of international finance from an essentially "outsider" frame of
reference. As impressed as I was by the range and depth of Eric's
understanding of the technical aspects of encryption, I have the feeling
that setting up such a revolutionary scheme -- which would threaten both
traditional banking enterprises and the governments that monitor and tax
them -- is bound to encounter opposition much more massive and
sophisticated than he indicated.
  To be fair, he could only talk about the high points of his plans in
the context of the afternoon talk. But I kept having flashbacks to the1960s
and 70s, when counterculture groups laid intricate plans to overwhelm or
endrun "the system." 
  Put bluntly, any plans to enter international finance without a
substantial component aimed at lining up political and traditional
financial clout seems to me to be doomed to the dustbin of visionary
schemes.  After the smoke clears, we are far more likely to see Chase
Manhattan with a platoon of hired cryptologists than EFF or Cypherpunks
wheeling and dealing on a global scale.

  That's my &v$>{/!  worth.     <--- Encrypted digital $.02