re: digital cash

[hughes@ah.com (Eric Hughes)]

>I really can't think of a way of anchoring the at-issue-time "value"
>of a digicash note that's not either ridiculous or pointless.

Not only ridiculous, but impossible.  Even with one currency, it's
impossible.  Let us assume that all dollars have the same value.
(This ends up not being true with certain types of intervention--I
digress.)  Now, in the case of a Great Depression, say, where there is
actually less economic output, the number of dollars has not
decreased, and so each dollar buys less.

It's real value which is important in this case, not nominal value.

There is no guarantor of value.  If there were ever claimed one, I
would be suspicious that it was backed by coercion.

Eric