Money takes on new meaning Monday as the Internet gets its first electronic cash.
The new digital currency will be offered by Mark Twain Bancshares, Inc., a regional bank holding company based in St. Louis, Mo., using technology developed by the Amsterdam-based company Digicash.David Chaum, a mathematician who founded Digicash, is a highly regarded expert on protecting privacy in the information age.
The electronic cash system is geared toward small purchases and toward extending the ability of small companies to reach a global audience with a limited investment.
Despite the Internet's explosive growth, less than $200 million in business was done on the global web last year - and that was just processing credit or debit card transactions. Security concerns and the absence of a cash-type payment system were the main reasons.
While those transactions involve little more than putting cardholders' numbers in encoded software envelopes to protect them from theft, the Digicash software actually creates a new form of currency.
The U.S. government, which is in charge of the issuing of U.S. currency, has so far made no policy statement on digital currency. But no one has told Mark Twain Bancshares it can't go ahead with the project.
During an 11-month Internet trial run using play money, the system attracted more than 30,000 users and 70 merchants, Chaum said.