Re: decentralized wallets and payment processors

> On 29 Apr 2015, at 13:37, Melvin Carvalho <melvincarvalho@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Dave, I've been thinking a lot about sync lately, during my testing phase.
> 
> I think traditional methods for sync here are not going to meet my needs.  I'm thinking more along the lines of UNIX IPC.  In particularly, shared memory and messaging.  
> 
> In the case of shared memory, two wallets will have the same URI and then merge when connections allow.
> 
> In the case of messaging wallets allow information to flow like water in a network.  This becomes more spontaneous.  I envision a web of wallets, a user may have many wallets all talking to each other and triggering things.  Your fridge may order food on your behalf when it gets low.  A family may have a shared area for photos and video, with payments triggered as more files are uploaded.  A person may track their work locally for analysis, then send a summary to employers and accountants etc.
> 
> Importantly, I no longer see a distinction between payment processor and wallet.  A payment processor to my mind is just a multi user wallet.  I like the wallet metaphor in this context.  It's not hard to create and destroy wallets spontaneously, to add block chain technology over the web, to deploy smart contracts in javascript and to have personal coinbases (aka currency mints) regulated via a ripple-like web of trust.

As Patrick recently pointed out the W3C Web Payments Activity is seeking to create a level playing field for many payment solutions. I see a distinction between wallets and the things they contain. Joerg Heuer provided a nice list of the different kinds of things that a wallet could contain. When it comes to synchronising a pair of wallets, an object oriented approach seems reasonable, where objects define and own their properties and methods. The wallet can merge its contents, but when it comes to merging payment instruments of the same kind, then this is something that the payment instrument should be responsible for handling, including resolving any conflicts that may occur.

> The reason I take the UNIX analogy is because I see the next gen of the web becoming much more like an operating system, than a browsing space.  Some of this may probably be suitable for v2.0 of the web payments spec.  But I probably will have it all coded up and working in an MVP by the time v1.0 is out.

It sounds like you are implementing a multi-user wallet for a specific payment solution. That would seem to be very different from the personal wallet with multiple payment instruments that the W3C Web Payments IG is chartered to work on.

Best regards,
—
   Dave Raggett <dsr@w3.org <mailto:dsr@w3.org>>