From owner-e-gold-list@atlas.imagiware.com Tue Aug 3 01:26:47 1999 Received: from atlas.imagiware.com (IDENT:root@atlas.imagiware.com [205.254.196.253]) by pyyl.pair.com (8.9.1/8.6.12) with ESMTP id BAA01079 for ; Tue, 3 Aug 1999 01:26:46 -0400 (EDT) X-Envelope-To: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by atlas.imagiware.com (8.8.7/8.8.7) id XAA03418 for e-gold-list-outgoing; Mon, 2 Aug 1999 23:18:35 -0500 Date: Mon, 2 Aug 1999 23:18:35 -0500 Message-Id: <199908030418.XAA03418@atlas.imagiware.com> X-Authentication-Warning: atlas.imagiware.com: majordom set sender to owner-e-gold-list using -f From: Douglas Jackson To: "E-Gold Discussion List" Subject: e-gold: fulcrum Sender: owner-e-gold-list@atlas.imagiware.com Precedence: normal Status: RO This announcement is not for everyone. If you are not technically savvy, familiar with the vexatious nature of alpha code, and clued in regarding the subtleties of digital cash - ignore what follows... for now. If, on the other hand, you are the rare sort who gets it already: G&SR is going to start making a market for DigiGold.net's gold digital cash. Don't bother going to DigiGold.net's web site - it isn't usable yet, and unless you are planning to take down a full kilo of gold, they won't deal with you directly anyway. The client/wallet still runs in debug mode. It requires you to have the full-blown JDK1.1.8 and Java Swing 1.1.1 beta 2 on your machine, available from http://java.sun.com The plain JRE won't cut it. It also won't run using the more recent Java 1.2 series stuff. The client is open source - the Webfunds wallet, http://webfunds.org If you are the sort of Java-talented individual able to contribute to communities such as cryptix.org, you can get involved with ongoing progress in Webfunds. The core wallet has functionality needed/useful for all sorts of digital cash protocols. It has a user interface, it interfaces with a backend database designed from the ground up specifically for transactions of a financial nature, it makes use of Ricardian contracts [text files that are both human readable and machine readable, enabling complete specification of all terms and conditions of any financial contract, whether currency, shares, interest-bearing debt instruments, derivatives, etc.], and has a sophisticated non-repudiation model and secure communications capability. All sort of add-ons can be added as plug-ins - it is designed to grow by addition of value added plugins. [I'm touting as if we built it - G&SR is merely going to cash in on its existence. Ian Grigg and his worldclass team of financial crypto talent at Systemics, Inc. built/is building it]. Documentation is way behind, but some dated basics are on the systemics.com site under Ricardo and Sox directories. Instructions (sparse) are on the webfunds site. Don't expect customer support. This is not for Joe AOL-user yet. You can experiment with overdrafts that will deposit successfully only back into the account they were drawn from. I think it allows zero payments for testing too. You can join the consortium, download source and build it yourself, or you can bring in the already compiled .zip, currently 1.3.3, follow the instructions and doit tuit. The DigiGold_AUG (grams of gold - soon to be joined by AGG, PTG, and PDG) is the one you want to add, using the "new" button. The built in "contract browser" enables you to authenticate the currency contract, which could otherwise be tricky since the digital sig is an x.509 instead of PGP one. I'm going out of town, and I haven't brought anyone else at our shop up to speed on this yet, so if there is much demand for the digital cash this week G&SR will be tad tardy filling orders. [e-gold exchange operations will be business-as-usual]. I'll take a few hundred grams along and will try to get online now and again. If you are dying to get some we'll be exchanging gram for gram for e-gold. Pay e-gold account 100079 and send hushmail to e-gold@hushmail.com and I'll get some out to you by return hushmail. I am a little hesitant to announce something so epochal so casually and at such an early stage, but this is the real thing, a currency that sits one layer above e-gold. No fees. No transaction costs. The only cost to financial institutions that use the digital cash as their reserve currency will be the opportunity cost of not investing entire asset base. DigiGold is currently backing it entirely with e-gold, until there is a reasonably liquid market in suitable DigiGold-denominated commercial paper. At that point it will start to modulate toward a balance sheet reminiscent of [but without the embedded contradictions of] one of the late 19th century European central banks (specifically the Reichsbank, for reasons that will be discussed exhaustively when it is time). The monetary theory is as compelling as the technology, but I will not try to explicate it without the luxury of length and some rigor. Oh yeah, nearly forgot. Here's 1.0 gram, bearer, first come, first serve. -----BEGIN SOX MESSAGE----- Version: 2.0.0 Comment: SOX by Systemics AAENUDkzMzY1MTgwNTU4NRTXZiifIbS5wh8sMDUv66pQUDS+HQAUnHyee7VkIkl3rqhnRiOjdAe4 9u4AAAAAAAAD6AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADZZyDt3VQwUjANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQQFAANBAAEXxD6v41tZ tDMXiqVowUetXH1oJE2i89MUe093jV0aQ/BjOP6bDRGrJvqWY7qJCCIsrXuaPiF7rnZgpn5LhNU= =N6ym -----END SOX MESSAGE-----