Re: VC-HTTP-API - A follow up on the RAR presentation

>
> (And I thought I framed my suggestion not as an "Occupy!" one, but in
> terms of the need to integrate VCs with offline digital cash -- a need being
> investigated by an estimated 70% of the world's governments right now
> <https://hackernoon.com/cbcd-19-countries-creating-or-researching-the-issuance-of-a-digital-decentralized-currency-b57a609e695b>...
> Yet I think I was still seen as a wild-eyed revolutionary. Sigh.)
>
> The only good use case I can see for combining VCs with blockchains is if
> the wallet holds digital cash and credentials. But I am not yet convinced
> that users will want to hold both in the same wallet. The same device yes,
> but it could still be different apps.
>
"Digital cash" has very little to do with cryptocurrency. I'm talking about
a digital version of a British Pound, a Euro, a Dollar, etc. Governments
were galvanized to research this when Facebook announced Diem. The Bahamas
went live with the digital "Sand Dollar" in the past few months. China is
nearly live with a digital renmenbi. (Google search term: "CBDC")

The use cases are numerous and compelling. Most of the narratives we've
used about VCs+KYC over the past few years apply to digital cash. Also,
cross-border remittances, simple reputation when deciding whether to trust
a buyer, etc. The point is that money and trust questions go together. And
if you can exchange your money offline (e.g., smartcards and NFC), but you
can't answer your trust questions without exchanging VCs over http, all the
use cases become intractable. Governments investigating digital cash are
ALL eliminating solutions that are incapable of offline.