[Cryptography] Krugman blockchain currency skepticism

Patrick Chkoreff pc at fexl.com
Sat Aug 4 11:08:26 EDT 2018


Benjamin Kreuter wrote on 08/03/2018 08:23 PM:

> Except that we know how to solve that problem without all the expense
> of blockchains.  You use Chaum-style e-cash that supports at least one
> offline transaction "hop."

Except that a Chaumian e-cash issue would be hosted on an individual
server (or group thereof), and state actors could interfere with access
to that server.  Also a Chaumian e-cash issue would presumably be
redeemable for assets on demand, and the vaulted assets would be
vulnerable to seizure.

I tend to think the future is in individually issued real bills of
exchange, redeemable for assets, with invoices signed by the payee and
those signed invoices further signed by the payer, and exchanges cleared
by the issuer.  Bills of exchange by different issuers could be traded
on a market floor to allow price discovery based on issuer reputation
and asset value.

In this system, each individual issuer would in effect be a "central
server," but the proliferation of issuers and exchangers would afford a
level of decentralization.


-- Patrick


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