Re: TrustBucks

["Robert A. Rosenberg" <hal9001@panix.com>]

At 19:11 -0500 8/3/96, TrustBuckFella wrote:

>I'll explain Private Currency and why it's good and bad. In Private
>Currency you don't "buy the [money] someplace". You mint it when paying.

IOW Electronic IOUs/Markers.

>Restraint on double-spending: Each participant publishes a list of the
>    ID and value all outstanding TrustBucks of their own variety. Value
>    of the notes can be obscured so it can only be verified by someone
>    who has seen the note itself.
>
>    What if some participant doesn't publish a complete list? Well, who
>    are they robbing? People who directly trusted them for that amount
>    and now won't ever again.

If the value is obscured there is still no verification of how much they
have outstanding. So long as all of the TrustBucks are listed (with the
amounts listed correctly but obscured), there is no way to verify that the
claimed total is accurate unless you monitor their list before the swap and
after it and there is only one new TrustBuck listed (with the correct
amount added to the outstanding total). Listing phony $0 notes on the list
and removing them later (and dropping the claimed outstanding balance)
would be possible. With this method, anyone who I give my note to will see
the correct amount in THOSE notes as well as seeing the outstanding balance
go up the correct amount but that amount can be manipulated (as I stated)
due to there being no complete disclosure of the amounts.