In Search of Genuine DigiCash

[mpd@netcom.com (Mike Duvos)]

Timothy C. May writes:

 > I would encourage people *not* to do "Yet Another Digicash
 > Experiment."

 > We've had several, and the problems of digital cash lie in
 > the *launch* of viable, robust systems, not in casual,
 > doomed-to-not-be-successful efforts. (Pr0duct Cypher's
 > "Magic Money" system was considerably better programmed than
 > most such experiments, and yet nobody would bother to try to
 > use it. A less here.)

I haven't seen a Tacky Token in months, although there was quite
a bit of activity when I first made my server available. Although
I haven't heard how the other servers are doing, I would expect
interest has trailed off there as well.

The problem with practical digital cash lies not in the
mathematics, but in the financial and legal arenas.  It is very
difficult to convince a real financial institution with deep
pockets to underwrite a potentially unlimited liability for
itself.  I suspect that for the forseeable future, digital cash
will take the smartcard route, and that money which can
anonymously traverse cyberspace in large denominations will not
be forthcoming.

It is also unlikely that faith of financial institutions in
supposedly unbreakable mathematics has been enhanced by the
recent one-line fix announced for the DSS.

Still, I look forward to the first person brave enough to attach
a hard currency value to anonymous cyberbucks.  It may actually
make hacking a worthwhile pursuit again.

-----Begin Totally Unrelated Topic-----

BTW, Thinking Machines Inc. went Chapter 11 today and dismissed
one third of its work force.  They are blaming the end of the
Cold War for their problems.

-- 
     Mike Duvos         $    PGP 2.6 Public Key available     $
     mpd@netcom.com     $    via Finger.                      $