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  • Writer's pictureGideon Samid

Chaum, Grothoff, Moser, Swiss National Bank Digital Money Proposal

Back in the 80s David Chaum invented a clever cryptographic means to allow a party to sign (and thereby authenticate) value carrying data, without the signer being aware of what they signed. It's an anonymity boosting solution for digital money. With a remarkable display of energy and enterprise, David, together with two partners from the Swiss National Bank make the case for a cryptocurrency alternative central bank digital currency (CBDC). The plan has some important features necessary for a widely spread digital currency. Yet, it relies on today's cryptography which is based on mathematical complexity. This puts this currency one mathematical discovery away from a breach, as well as at the mercy of the looming threat of quantum cryptanalysis. It also does not answer for the rising demand of Internet of Things: ultra fast, and ultra small payments; neither does it offer continuity for period of global communication failures. We applaud this effort as important for the ongoing conversation as to how to build money in cyberspace. BitMint approach is to regard this migration to cyberspace as a big moment in history. We develop a dedicated design for a cyber financial language, with its unique alphabet, and quantum-resistant features. This new language will serve as a unified platform for everything financial: cash, credit and investment instruments. It will serve at wholesale level and at retail level. It will serve investors, paying robots, and small IoT devices; it will offer controlled privacy, fair taxation and tethered money (See "Tethered Money" published by Elsevier). The fundamental feature of the new financial language is the fusion between identity and value, its reliance on quantum randomness, and the built-in resilience to unexpected attacks. The preliminary versions of the new BitMint financial language have been taken up by the banking system in China. It's a slow revolution, but it is coming.



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