Editor’s note: Kash is a protocol, not a company.
Founder: Curry
Establishment date: October 2022
Head office location: remote
Amount of Bitcoin held in the Treasury: Not applicable
Number of employees: 20-30 open source developers
Website: https://cashu.space/
Public or private? Not applicable
Of Bitcoin’s many notable properties, privacy is not among them.
In fact, Bitcoin’s transparency is blockchain It is in sharp contrast to privacy chaumian ecashis a type of digital cash created in 1982 by legendary cryptologist Dr. David Chaum.
So what do these two technologies have to do with each other?
Now, 40 years have passed since the invention of eCash. failed attempt In the 1990s, when attempting to integrate Bitcoin into traditional financial infrastructure, a developer with the pseudonym “Calle” found a home for the technology within the Bitcoin ecosystem.
“Ecash was waiting for Bitcoin as the foundation layer,” Calle told Bitcoin Magazine. “Bitcoin is a permissionless system that allows anyone to build financial innovations without consulting the big banks. It’s a better environment to experiment with this technology.”
Calle has innovated this technology by: Kash, a free open source electronic cash protocol he released to the world in October 2022. Cashu allows users to take full advantage of both Bitcoin and the Chaumian world of electronic cash.
As readers of this publication are probably already familiar with, How Bitcoin workseCash may be a new concept.
What is e-cash?
Ecash is a bearer asset that can be transferred peer-to-peer, similar to Bitcoin.
However, the main difference between eCash and Bitcoin is that Bitcoin exists on a ledger, whereas eCash exists on the owner’s device.
“For us Bitcoiners, Ecash is a very foreign concept that flips the idea of a ledger on its head,” Calle explained.
“In an electronic cash system, the status of who owns what is determined by who has electronic cash in their pocket, not ‘what this database says about who has what.'” he added.
On a more technical level, ecash tokens are essentially IOUs, cast Using the technique ofblind sign”
Cashu uses this to allow ordinary users to operate mints via the Lightning Network. guidewritten by Calle.
Calle’s motivation for creating Cashu
You might think that someone who hides their face behind a bright orange face wrap during media appearances would be motivated by some pretty extreme ideology, but that’s not the case with Cal.
Instead, he is surprisingly down-to-earth, practical, and extremely logical. His goal in building Cashu is simply to preserve the privacy that has existed for centuries in financial transactions.
“We have been using financial private means for hundreds of years without realizing that we were using one of the best technologies in financial privacy: physical cash,” Cal said. he said.
“So, really, we’re not trying to bend towards something we’ve never experienced. We’re just preserving what we’ve already enjoyed,” he added.
Mr Kalu wants to see Chaumian’s e-cash succeed despite the challenges Dr Chaum faced when trying to introduce e-cash into the traditional financial system through his company. digicash In the 90’s.
“Shaumian Ecash had a very big mission,” Kalu said.
“It was supposed to revolutionize the entire financial world. But unfortunately, PayPal and Visa took over,” he added.
“I’m also realistic in that I’m choosing to build this in Bitcoin. Bitcoin is the only world where you can start building something like this open source. ”
Electronic cash in Bitcoin
One of Calle’s goals in building Cashu on top of Bitcoin is to allow more people to use Bitcoin for everyday transactions.
“Bitcoin needs to be carried by a diverse group of people, so the public can understand the huge potential this technology offers,” he said.
He also believes that to get more people to adopt Bitcoin, we need to be more deliberate in our approach and let the technology speak for itself.
“You don’t have to be against the state to love Bitcoin. You don’t even have to believe in separating money from the state,” he said.
“Ideology spreads much more slowly than technology. Technology can explode overnight,” he added.
“Explain to people that we have found a way to make money on the Internet. This is a once-in-a-lifetime event in the history of the Internet, and we have crossed the line. Let’s spread the message.”
I asked Cal how he felt about the recent events. Crackdown on Samurai Wallet developers Although he did not directly respond that privacy-focused protocols built on top of Bitcoin, such as Cashu, could be in the crosshairs of regulators, there are concerns that the traditional financial system could be put at risk. The same goes for electronic cash, which they didn’t seem particularly worried about, as they pointed out that it was.
Ecash surpasses Bitcoin
“There is a very active discussion going on in Europe about what a CBDC will look like,” Cull explained.
“The ECB also intends to explore an electronic cash system that would offer cash-like privacy for transactions below €300. The Bank for International Settlements is currently piloting an electronic cash system. The Swiss National Bank and the Swiss Parliament itself are considering introducing electronic cash for their national digital currency,” he added.
“We now see that there is scope for a completely legal and compliant use of electronic cash.”
According to Calle, the increased privacy that comes with using eCash is a net positive for those who use the technology, whether it’s Bitcoin or within traditional financial structures.
Who uses ECash?
Like Bitcoin, eCash is available to everyone. Specifically, it is for people who want to make digital payments privately.
“The Achilles heel of digital payments is that every payment is tied to an identity,” explains Calle. “There is no reason why KYC is required to read articles on NYTimes.com. These online activities should not be connected to our bank accounts, especially if we are reading political articles.”
According to Calle, Nostr users are already using eCash minted with Cashu in several privacy-based chat applications.
It is also used in some cases as payment to prevent denial of service (DoS) attacks, and some users are using it to pay for VPNs without revealing their identity.
But Kalu seemed most enthusiastic when discussing how electronic cash could be used by people who don’t have bank accounts or whose bank accounts have been discontinued because of their political affiliation. .
“How this could become a regional banking infrastructure in areas of the world where banking systems don’t exist or where banking systems are so outrageous that dissidents and political activists basically can’t use digital money. “I think about it a lot,” he said.
In preparation for such a case, Kalu also explained how to build a system to issue electronic cash denominated in fiat currency backed by Bitcoin.
“We can build a fiat payment experience in the most private, fast and efficient way, very close to physical cash, without touching the fiat banking system at all, but still entirely based on Bitcoin. “We are very excited about the stablecoin, which is very popular and has taken over the popularity of Bitcoin in most parts of the world,” he added.
“There is a clear demand for it, and fiat currency on ecash is the best form of fiat currency I can think of.”
Please proceed with caution
While there are many benefits to using ECash, it is also important to be cautious when using this technology.
Given that ECash is minted through a custodian, its use involves counterparty risk.
“I urge everyone to be very careful about the custodians they choose,” Cull cautioned, warning of his own statements and explaining how the team behind Kash is explained how they are trying to offset some of the risks associated with trusting them. Star rating system based on reputation.
“For those who use Cashu, we recommend that they use it in very small quantities. If you keep it in your pocket like a wallet, it won’t hurt as much if you lose it at a bar,” he added.
He went on to state unequivocally, “When the mints go down, so do your sats.”
There is also a risk of losing your funds if you lose the device on which they are stored, but Cashu has created a way to recover your lost eCash.
“Cashu itself has a mechanism to recover your tokens if you lose them, similar to the Bitcoin UX that stores your seed phrase,” Calle explained.
However, he also pointed out that users will restore their funds through the Mint, and if the Mint goes down, users will permanently lose their tokens.
call to action
Cal does not profit from his work with Kash. Although he started this project out of an “academic interest,” he has found a greater purpose in developing it and has driven it forward.
“Working on Bitcoin is a great honor and an opportunity to give meaning to life, because it is a project for humanity,” he explained.
“It’s great to be a small part of this process, knowing that you’re doing something every day to improve the world and not feeding the big tech companies that are sucking the life out of your body. Because there is.”
So not only does he recommend using Cashu if you’re looking for more privacy in your day-to-day Bitcoin transactions, but he also recommends using Cashu for developers or anyone with skills related to promoting Bitcoin adoption. We are calling for your cooperation in promoting the spread of coins.
“I know a lot of people who have the desire to work on something that makes the world a better place, and Bitcoin is an open system that anyone with any skill level can participate in,” Cull said. Ta.
“For people in big tech who have lost meaning in their work, this is an opportunity to do something meaningful, global and inclusive,” he added.
“Let’s go to the moon with us.”
