Re: e$: Cypherpunks Sell Concepts

["Perry E. Metzger" <perry@imsi.com>]

Eric Hughes says:
> It didn't occur to me before, but you could also have 'nonbank notes'.
> If the issuer isn't a bank, does the regulation still apply?

If it doesn't the simple expedient of the Fed ruling that you are a
bank would screw you up nicely.

If all else fails, they will just pass a new law, so as to prevent the
evil Child Pornographers, Terrorists, Drug Dealers and the rest from
using this horrible new technology.

I'm not sanguine about the possibilities of getting any of what we
would like through regulatory and legislative hurdles. The regulators
have taken ten years just to eliminate the restrictions on interstate
banking, and they still haven't quite done the job yet (although
hopefully the restrictions will go away by '96 or so.) They understood
that stuff fairly well. They probably won't understand digital cash as
well, although it will probably be even worse for us if they do.

Perry