E-cash

Essay by EssaySwap ContributorUniversity, Master's February 2008

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Introduction ? E-cash as an Important Issue The Internet?s potential as a marketplace, a place where buyers and sellers can come together to exchange goods or services is massive. The fact that it includes over twenty to thirty million individual users and twenty thousands businesses that are linked electronically helps supports this case. As well, with thousands more companies and customers appearing on the scene each day, it is no surprise that businesses have indeed rushed on to the internet even though some may not be aware of what they intend to do when they get there. Nevertheless, many sellers (of everything from books, magazines computer programs and other information-based products to more tangible items) that are placing the products online had faced dilemma. How would buyers pay for these goods and services? What would be the currency that will serve as the medium of exchange in this new marketplace? In the past, there was no secure way to effect payment of the payment of the public Internet and so web users were forced to go off the net to make the purchase by mailing the seller a check or phoning in a credit card number.

Emergence of E-cash Electronic cash, or e-cash, was money that had moved along multiple channels (i.e., the Internet), largely outside the established network of banks, checks, and paper currency overseen by the Federal Reserve. E-cash had been exchanged between 'big business' for decades via electronic bank transactions and currency exchanges however, the introduction e-commerce on the web permitted a much more widespread use of e-cash transactions. As the Internet commerce grew both consumers and merchants demanded more secure methods of on-line trade. In response to this urgency, new forms of electronic money began to appear in the early l990s, some were aimed at assisting...