[Cryptography] What has Bitcoin achieved?

[John Levine]

>> I wouldn't say that mPesa is issued by telco (Safaricom). Its based on
>> Kenya shillings.  One just open an account and put the Kenya currency on
>> the account. Its this currency that Kenya use for trading.
>
>Well, the term 'issue' is generally to imply that one stands behind the
>contract, in the sense of 'issuer.'  In this case it is Safaricom that
>is the issuer of the unit, and they stand behind their contract (to the
>extent they do, never really looked at those aspects).

They're acting as a bank.  Doing an mPesa transfer is conceptually the
same as writing a check that directs your bank to pay money from your
account to someone else.  The only way to turn it into cash is to take
it to a branch of the bank.  They probably don't have the equivalent
of deposit insurance, but lots of banks don't, either.  (I realize
nobody uses checks in Australia any more, but substitute whatever you
use to tell your bank to pay bills.)

What we seem to be discovering here is that no matter what kind of
electronic currency you use, you have to trust someone.  The only
question is who it is, and what if any recourse you have if they are
crooked or incompetent.

R's,
John