Re: Mostly offline digicash

Alan (Gesture Man) Wexelblat <wex@media.mit.edu> writes"
> Nick asks:
> > Why haven't people backed away from credit cards despite $10's of  
billions
> > in fraud? 

> 

>  A very good question.  The reason is largely
> because it's a very profitable business *for the
> card merchants* (banks, mostly).  They get their
> percentage no matter what, and losses don't eat
> into it all that much.
> 

> I agree with much of what Nick says, but I think
> we have to consider ways to help make digicash pay
> for its own implementation and enforcement, or it
> will not take hold.

Hmmm.  Couldn't digicash issuers simply charge up front
for their digicash notes, adding a percentage on top
like travellers checks?  Let the people who want the
convenience and anonymity of digital cash pay for it;
let the merchants redeem it for free.  Sound okay?

Joe

Joe Thomas' proposal to have the digicash issuers charge for it up front
sounds fine to me.  My point was not that we needed a specific theory, but
that we needed a coherent theory to present when we propose digicash in the
first place.

--Alan