Re: <nettime> In Praise of Cash

[Morlock Elloi <morlockelloi@gmail.com>]

Bitcoin was never cash (that was the biggest lie about Bitcoin), so it 
could not possibly counter the war on cash. It was exactly the opposite 
- it was a competitor in the anti-cash surge. There is no end user 
independence, there are no traceless offline transactions, there is huge 
amount of strings attached to powerful players, and huge amount of 
complex technology required. The real understated promise of Bitcoin was 
avoidance of taxation, and even that is turning to be a pipe dream.

Nine out of 10 mints are in the China mainland. Nine out of 10 mints are 
in the China mainland. Nine out of 10 mints are in the China mainland. 
Nine out of 10 mints are in the China mainland. Nine out of 10 mints are 
in the China mainland.

On the other hand, Chaum's double-blinded signatures (and Digicash 
around them) provided something more cash-like, with bank-based 
bookkeeping, but actual transactions could be anonymous and not 
traceable to neither payer nor payee. Mark Twain Bank and Deutsche Bank 
played with it briefly, but the concept scared the sh*t out of everyone 
so it was retired.


> Bitcoin was war on the war on cash.

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