Starting an e-cash bank

_Money_ is at the root of control of cyberspace.  If states control the
banks issuing the currency, states will control cyberspace.  If the
banks/issuers of coins are beyond the reach of statist governments,
cyberspace will remain free.  Crytpo of course will allow the banks to issue
coins, but if they have to follow statist laws, crypto won't really help
them all that much -- I don't know many bank execs willing to face down the
US Government with nothing to back them up but ~unbreakable codes. 

What would it take to start an anonymous, private, secure, etc. etc. bank
issuing e-cash, located in a country without taxes/etc.?  I assume a tax
haven like the Cayman Islands or a small third world country somewhere would
have plenty of nice tax-shelter banks interested in such a venture.  Of
course, it would be quite illegal to transfer money to such a bank, but once
it's there, wouldn't coins be perfectly legitimate currency?  The bank could
even make money by issuing coins for $US held in vaults, $US invested in
different mutual-fund type things or other currencies, and perhaps even
coins backed only by the bank's profits (sounds like stock).

A cypherpunk?  me?,
Ryan
<ryan@pobox.com>

On Sat, 30 Dec 1995, Ryan Lackey wrote:

> What would it take to start an anonymous, private, secure, etc. etc. bank
> issuing e-cash, located in a country without taxes/etc.? 

I think this idea of a new e-cash bank or other kind of financial 
institution sounds very good. I have been thinking of the same thing here 
in Estonia, to set up a financial institution issuing e-cash for people 
here, but I think this would not in any way be an easy task. I am not 
very familiar with local legislation about financial and credit 
institutions, but I know that at least for banks the minimum equity 
capital or what you call it must be 50 million Estonian kroons (4 million 
US dollars). But I still think that for issuing e-cash and opening e-cash 
accounts you might not need to have such kind of capital. What does it 
take to be called a bank?

And how easy is it to start a bank in some caribbean country or similar 
tax haven? What are the minimum requirements?

Juri Kaljundi
jk@digit.ee
Digiturg http://www.digit.ee/

> What does it take to be called a bank?

Is it necessary to be called a bank?  I've got a storefront in Chicago.  
What would prevent me from opening up a Mark Twain account and buying and 
selling ecash on floppies, in person?  Do account holders have to agree 
not to do that before Mark Twain gives them an account?  Is it illegal?

The currency exchange model almost seems more appropriate for most users
than the bank model.

sorry if this is a little late.....

On Wed, 3 Jan 1996, Alex Strasheim wrote:

> > What does it take to be called a bank?
> 
> Is it necessary to be called a bank?  I've got a storefront in Chicago.  
> What would prevent me from opening up a Mark Twain account and buying and 
> selling ecash on floppies, in person?  Do account holders have to agree 
> not to do that before Mark Twain gives them an account?  Is it illegal?
> 
> The currency exchange model almost seems more appropriate for most users
> than the bank model.

Not exactly currency exchange.  More like simple exchange.  Don't confuse
"issuing ecash" with "exchanging ecash for cash".  Issuing implies that
you have assets to back up the ecash.  Exchange only means that your
giving up your ecash for an equivalent amount of cash. 

Anybody could conceivably "exchange ecash".  Only "banks", who back up 
your money by law and researves can "issue ecash".

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Patiwat Panurach      	     Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
eMAIL: pati@ipied.tu.ac.th      Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
m/18 junior Fac of Economics		-Johann W.Von Goethe
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Just about caught up to 2 week's worth of cypherpunks...  That 'J' got
  quite a workout...)

In article <199601031925.NAA02085@proust.suba.com>,
Alex Strasheim  <cp@proust.suba.com> wrote:
>> What does it take to be called a bank?
>
>Is it necessary to be called a bank?  I've got a storefront in Chicago.  
>What would prevent me from opening up a Mark Twain account and buying and 
>selling ecash on floppies, in person?  Do account holders have to agree 
>not to do that before Mark Twain gives them an account?  Is it illegal?
>
>The currency exchange model almost seems more appropriate for most users
>than the bank model.

Isn't that what Sameer announced in his latest(?) press release?
c2.org has a MT account.  c2.org customers don't.  The customers
receive ecash payments from the Net (for accessing their |<00|_ web pages)
and give the payments to c2.org, which deposits them in its MT acocunt,
and credits the customer (minus a percentage?  Lower than the customer
would otherwise get from MT, but higher than c2.org (a merchant) is charged?).
Did I get that right?

  - Ian