Re: e$: Cypherpunks Sell Concepts

[rah@shipwright.com (Robert Hettinga)]

At  2:19 PM 8/7/94 -0400, Perry E. Metzger wrote:

>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.)

It really isn't to most of the individual banking entities' advantage for
interstate banking to exist because almost all of them would merged out of
existence. It isn't the regulators' fault; it's a wonder they got this far
as fast as they did, and that's primarily because the foriegn markets are
driving the regulators to it. Regulatory arbitrage. If there was a clearcut
financial advantage to interstate banking to First Podunk Bank and Trust,
it would have happened already.

>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.

Which, I believe, is the point of this thread.  It's time to shuck and jive
a bit.  If it can be demonstrably proved that a market exists, that there's
some boards of directors for those hoary old regulators to sit on in their
golden years, then there's a chance to make retail trade settlement a
reality.  You can't do that without a legimate test, and you can't get that
without mau-mauing the regulators some, eh?

Bob Hettinga

-----------------
Robert Hettinga  (rah@shipwright.com) "There is no difference between someone
Shipwright Development Corporation     who eats too little and sees Heaven and
44 Farquhar Street                       someone who drinks too much and sees
Boston, MA 02331 USA                       snakes." -- Bertrand Russell
(617) 323-7923