Ecash

application A trial form of electronic funds transfer over

the Internet (and soon by electronic mail).

The ecash software stores digital money, signed by a bank, on

the user's local computer. The user can spend the digital

money at any shop accepting ecash, without the trouble of

having to open an account there first, or having to transmit

credit card numbers. The shop just has to accept the money,

and deposit it at the bank. The security is provided by a

public-key digital signature.

There process involves the issuing banks who exchange real

money for ecash, users who have and spend ecash, shops who

accept ecash payments, and clearing banks who clear payments

received by shops.

At the moment, all users and shops must have an account at

DigiCash's own bank, the "First Digital Bank" at

bank.digicash.com. They can withdraw money from the bank, and

convert it to ecash. Shops can be started by any ecash user.

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(1995-04-10)