e-gold: fulcrum

[Douglas Jackson]

[!!!!!  --MarkM]

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.

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