Re: MintChip launched by Royal Canadian Mint

I just wrote a piece on it here:

http://payglo.be/2012/04/05/mintchip/

I really don't see it as being useful for e-commerce apps. Some of their
technical choices make it impossible to do so at scale. However I do see
various niches that it could be useful in.

P

On Thu, Apr 5, 2012 at 2:44 AM, Manu Sporny <msporny@digitalbazaar.com>wrote:

> "Today's digital economy is changing faster than ever, and currency has
> to change too. It is, introducing MintChip, from the Royal Canadian Mint
> - the evolution of currency.
>
> MintChip brings all the benefits of cash into the digital age. Instant,
> private and secure, MintChip value can be stored and moved quickly and
> easily over email, software applications, or by physically tapping
> devices together."
>
> http://developer.**mintchipchallenge.com/<http://developer.mintchipchallenge.com/>
>
> I was a bit floored that this is something that a government body is
> doing - go Canada! Upon a cursory look, it seems as if it is a
> pseudo-competitor to Bitcoin, except that it's centralized. I find it
> questionable that the hardware device is secure, or if that's even a
> good idea. I don't like the idea of carrying around more than $300 with
> me at any given time - that transactions are non-reversible is
> problematic. You get mugged, you loose your digital cash... digital cash
> should be better than physical cash... not have the same problems.
>
> Merchants hate credit card charge-backs, but it's also a pretty
> pro-customer feature of modern monetary systems. The technological
> underpinnings of MintChip look solid, but it still seems limited to
> digital cash only. That is, no digital receipts, no credit mechanism, no
> crowd-funding mechanism, etc. The fact that it isn't tied to the
> Canadian dollar is a bad move. Alternative currencies have a huge
> crossing-the-chasm disadvantage: nobody accepts it until it becomes
> popular, it doesn't become popular because nobody accepts it. So, I
> expect it to languish unless it is tied directly to a fiat currency.
> That would be fairly easy to do with the political will. Understandably,
> the RCM is moving slowly on this one.
>
> I think their cloud-based approach is a better solution, but the problem
> with that is still the non-support of charge-backs. Also - they haven't
> documented any part of the technological protocol that I could see - bad
> form, hope they explain how the system works (in a patent and
> royalty-free way). In any case, glad to see government dabbling in this
> sort of technology.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> -- manu
>
> --
> Manu Sporny (skype: msporny, twitter: manusporny)
> President/CEO - Digital Bazaar, Inc.
> blog: PaySwarm Website for Developers Launched
> http://digitalbazaar.com/2012/**02/22/new-payswarm-alpha/<http://digitalbazaar.com/2012/02/22/new-payswarm-alpha/>
>
>


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