[79324] in Cypherpunks
Re: This is not "cash" if the government demands a report...
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Steve Schear)
Wed Apr 30 22:24:18 1997
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 18:05:26 -0700
To: Kent Crispin <kent@songbird.com>
From: azur@netcom.com (Steve Schear)
Cc: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Reply-To: azur@netcom.com (Steve Schear)
At 4:51 PM 4/29/97, Kent Crispin wrote:
>On Tue, Apr 29, 1997 at 01:01:59PM -0800, Tim May wrote:
>> At 11:26 AM -0800 4/29/97, Kent Crispin wrote:
>>=20
>> >I was refering to your purchase of the 'vette -- presuming the dealer
>> >followed the law, the sale would be reported, and the amount, and
>> >hence the transaction is not anonymous, even though you paid cash...
>>=20
>> Ah, Kent, so you are citing the government's intervention in cash
>> transactions (part of the War on Some Drugs, of course) as evidence that
>> cash has flaws. Well, I wouldn't call this cash, not if the government
>> demands that True Names be taken down and reported.
>
>OK. What would you call it, then? Perhaps you could think of another
>catchy, short name for those greenish bits of paper and circular metal
>objects I have in my pocket that I use to pay for lunch?
The coins in your pocket are 'legal tender' or currency, a non-intrest=
bearing bearer bond issued by the treasury. Ecash and its ilk are private=
currencies, similar in some ways to traveller's checks and money orders=
which are unsecured and uninsured debts of the issuer, but legally closer=
to the tokens issued at an amusement park or or the premium stamps (like=
Blus Chip or S&H Green) which have all but disappeared. Constitutionally,=
the government has only limited rights to restrict private the issueance=
and use of private currencies (Stamp Act of 1861 and its current=
codification under Title 18.)
--Steve
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