Ecash: Difference between revisions

'''Ecash''' was conceived by [[David Chaum]] as an anonymous cryptographic [[electronic money]] or electronic cash system in 19831982. It was realized through his corporation [[Digicash]] and used as [[micropayment]] system at one US bank from 1995 to 1998.

Chaum published the idea of anonymous electronic money in a 1983 paper;<ref name=chaum83>{{cite journalbook|last1=Chaum|first1=David |title=BlindAdvances signaturesin forCryptology untraceable payments|journalchapter=AdvancesBlind inSignatures Cryptologyfor Untraceable Payments Proceedings|date=1983|volume=82|issue=3|pages=199–203|doi=10.1007/978-1-4757-0602-4_18|isbn=978-1-4757-0604-8|url=http://www.hit.bme.hu/~buttyan/courses/BMEVIHIM219/2009/Chaum.BlindSigForPayment.1982.PDF}}</ref> eCash software on the user's local computer stored money in a digital format, cryptographically signed by a bank. The user could spend the digital money at any shop accepting eCash, without having to open an account with the vendor first, or transmitting credit card numbers. Security was ensured by public key digital signature schemes. The [[RSA (algorithm)|RSA]] [[blind signature]]s achieved unlinkability between withdrawal and spend transactions. Depending on the payment transactions, one distinguishes between on-line and off-line electronic cash: If the payee has to contact a third party (e.g., the bank or the credit-card company acting as an acquirer) before accepting a payment, the system is called an on-line system.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Berry Schoenmakers|editor1-last=Preneel|editor1-first=B.|editor2-last=Rijmen|editor2-first=V.|title=Computer Security and Industrial Cryptography: State of the Art and Evolution|date=1998|chapter-url=http://www.win.tue.nl/~berry/papers/cosic.pdf |accessdate=30 October 2014|chapter=Basic security of the ecash payment system}}</ref> In 1990, Chaum together with [[Moni Naor]] proposed the first off-line e-cash system, which was also based on blind signatures.<ref>{{cite conference |url=http://blog.koehntopp.de/uploads/chaum_fiat_naor_ecash.pdf |author1=Chaum, D. |author2=Fiat, A. |author3=Naor, M. |year=1990 |title=Untraceable electronic cash |book-title=Advances in Cryptology -– CRYPTO '88 Proceedings |editor=S. Goldwasser |publisher=Springer-Verlag |location=New York |pages=319–327 |access-date=2012-10-10 |archive-date=2011-09-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903023027/http://blog.koehntopp.de/uploads/chaum_fiat_naor_ecash.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Chaum started the company [[DigiCash]] in 19901989 with "ecash" as its trademark. He raised $10 million from [[David Marquardt]] and by 1997 [[Nicholas Negroponte]] was its chairman.<ref name=Forbes99/> Yet, in the United States, only one bank -{{mdash}} the Mark Twain bank in Saint Louis, MO- {{mdash}} implemented ecash, testing it as micropayment system;<ref name=Cnet>{{cite news|url=http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-215150.html|title= DigiCash loses U.S. toehold|author=Tim Clark|work=Cnet|date=2 September 1998}}</ref> Similar to credit cards, the system was free to purchasers, while merchants paid a transaction fee. After a three-year trial that signed up merely 5,000 customers, the system was dissolved in 1998, one year after the bank had been purchased by [[Mercantile Bancorporation|Mercantile Bank]], a large issuer of credit cards.<ref name=Cnet/> David Chaum opined then “As the Web grew, the average level of sophistication of users dropped. It was hard to explain the importance of privacy to them”.<ref name=Forbes99/>

In 2000 eCash Technologies sued eCash.com, alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition. eCash.com counterclaimed that eCash Technologies' trademark registration was fraudulently obtained, because it failed to disclose eCash.com's registration of the "ecash.com" domain name to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.<ref>{{cite web|title=eCash Technologies, Inc. v. Guagliardo d/b/a Ecash.com, Netconcept Interactive, Netconcept, & Netconcept Inc., Defendants & Counterclaimants. 127 F.Supp.2d 1069 (C.D. Cal. 2000)|url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=9304324102484286241&hl=en&as_sdt=1000006|author1=United States District Court |author2=C.D. California |date=30 October 2000}}</ref> The court rejected eCash.com's counterclaim saying a trademark applicant must disclose a third party's rights only if they are "clearly established." The court argued because the "mere registration of a domain name does not confer trademark rights, let alone "clearly established" rights, ECash Technologies had no duty to disclose defendant's registration of the “ecash.com” domain name to the PTO, however eCash Technologies subsequently went bankrupt and the domain "Ecash.com" remained in possession of the original owner.

In 2002 eCash Technologies was acquired by [[InfoSpace]],<ref name=ab>{{cite web|author1=Steve Bills|title=In Brief: InfoSpace Buys eCash Technologies|url=http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/167_41/-169001-1.html|publisher=American Banker|accessdate=30 October 2014|date=1 March 2002}}</ref> currently known as [[Blucora]]. As of 2015, the term eCash is used for the digital cash that can be stored on an electronically sensitive card including online or alternative payment portals and mobile applications.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/E-cash-supersedes-old-school-pocket-money/articleshow/50275694.cms|title=E-cash supersedes 'old school' pocket money}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/mobile-ecash-payment-for-merchants-now-made-easy-by-ezetap/articleshow/49397206.cms|title= Mobile ecash payment for merchants now made easy by Ezetap}}</ref> In 2016, Due Inc was granted the “ecash” trademark.<ref name=due>{{cite news|url=https://due.com/ecash|title= Guide to ecash}}</ref>

*[[Shafi Goldwasser|Goldwasser, S.]] and [[Mihir Bellare|Bellare, M.]] [http://cseweb.ucsd.edu/~mihir/papers/gb.html "Lecture Notes on Cryptography"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120421084751/http://cseweb.ucsd.edu/~mihir/papers/gb.html |date=2012-04-21 }}. Summer course on cryptography, MIT, 1996-2001. pp.&nbsp;233.

*[http://ecash.com "eCash.com"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230821012547/https://ecash.com/ |date=2023-08-21 }} -(eCash.com)