NODE 6d33e63dRe: Electronic cash illegal?
wcs@anchor.ho.att.com (bill.stewart@pleasantonca.ncr.com +1-510-484-6204)Wed, 18 Jan 95 18:25:16 PST
> Within the United States (and most other sovereign states) Hal Finney is
> correct to point out that the power to print currency is reserved to the
> government. I would think that e-cash is a currency and therefore illegal
> TO ISSUE WITHIN the geographical (legal) domain of the US.
He didn't say it was illegal to print private banknotes, just taxable.
Anybody can issue paper or metal tokens or whatever - the difference
with goverment-issue currency is that they can pass laws saying you
must accept it as payment for debts, even though your contract
specified repayment in real money instead of private bogons
like green paper IOUs or lightweight impure-metal coins with
politician's pictures on them.
As far as I know, the legal definition of a "dollar" in the US is still a
certain weight of silver, and payment in silver legally satisfies debts;
under current silver prices, that probably costs more than a
$1 US Federal Reserve Note, so nobody bothers.
Bill
NODE 92135e72Re: Electronic cash illegal?
Derek Atkins <warlord@MIT.EDU>Wed, 18 Jan 95 19:40:10 PST
> As far as I know, the legal definition of a "dollar" in the US is still a
> certain weight of silver, and payment in silver legally satisfies debts;
> under current silver prices, that probably costs more than a
> $1 US Federal Reserve Note, so nobody bothers.
Uhh, no, US currency does not have any backing. I believe it was
Nixon who stopped it, possibly even earlier than him. There _used_ to
be Gold- and Silver-backed dollars, but no longer.
The US dollar is backed by trust alone, today.
-derek
NODE 1f3d2c07Re: Electronic cash illegal?
Thomas Grant Edwards <tedwards@src.umd.edu>Thu, 19 Jan 95 15:27:14 PST
On Wed, 18 Jan 1995, Derek Atkins wrote:
> The US dollar is backed by trust alone, today.
Actually, the "backing" of a fiat currency is the need to have some
around to pay your taxes, else you go to jail. You are taxed on many
types of income, even if they are not directly exchanged in the fiat
currency. Somehow you have to get some.
This also means that higher taxes can make the currency more desirable,
lower taxes less, higher government spending less, lower government
spending more, etc.
-Thomas