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It's really hard to see how this works from even the demo page: https://demo.taler.net/en/ https://demo.taler.net/en/ On the front page it says "no new currenc

by xrd 5y ago

It's really hard to see how this works from even the demo page: https://demo.taler.net/en/ https://demo.taler.net/en/ On the front page it says "no new currency" and then on the demo page it talks about an imaginary currency. I'm interested in this but having trouble sorting out how to get started. Anyone have a good starting point?

sp1rit 5y ago
It isn't a new currency in the sense that you can, as a central back, configure the server to use "your" currency, and begin converting cash into taler tokens. For the demo it's unfeasible to use a preexisting currency, because they can't give out free money :-). So the obv. solution was taken to configure their server for a imaginary currency (KUDOS & TESTKUDOS) 100 if which are created out of thin air after you register. To get started, I'd recommend downloading the wallet (extension or mobile[0]) and registering an account with their demo bank. With the creation of that account, you should receive 100KUDOS tokens of which you can withdraw to your mobile phone / extension. Do so and you'll get a QR code to scan with the amount of KUDOS selected on the web interface. With that "money" you can now go to their demo shop and "buy" excerpts from rms's Free Software, Free Society, or "donate" to a few projects (try donating 5 kudos to simulate a malicious merchant), by again, scanning a QR-Code. If you want to know the details, I'd recommend the paper "How to issue a central bank digital currency[1]" which is very much like Taler. [0]: https://f-droid.org/packages/net.taler.wallet.fdroid [1]: https://www.snb.ch/en/mmr/papers/id/working_paper_2021_03
southerntofu 5y ago
There are pretty good talks from various tech conferences including CCC and FOSDEM. I heard there was a vending machine accepting GNU/Taler payments as a trial at one of these events. In summary, GNU/Taler is a standard for interoperating existing currencies and banks in a privacy-friendly manner: your bank can't know who you received money from or sent money to, but can know how much you received so that you can be taxed according to local regulations. It's a bit like electronic cash if you will.
- summm 5y ago
  Privacy-friendly? The surveillance-industrial complex is currently enjoying the capability to trace every digital transaction of existing payment system, including individual customers, not only merchants, as for Taler. The will put up some fight to keep it that way. Let's hope that Taler can overcome this.
  - southerntofu 5y ago
    > The will put up some fight to keep it that way. That is sure. I'm just pointing out GNU Taler has much less weaknesses (compared to eg. Bitcoin/Zcash) to consider integrating into the current banking system, notably: trust is not distributed pseudo-randomly to whoever has the most hashing power, and income is taxable to comply with government regulations.

by xrd 5y ago

sp1rit 5y ago

It isn't a new currency in the sense that you can, as a central back, configure the server to use "your" currency, and begin converting cash into taler tokens. For the demo it's unfeasible to use a preexisting currency, because they can't give out free money :-). So the obv. solution was taken to configure their server for a imaginary currency (KUDOS & TESTKUDOS) 100 if which are created out of thin air after you register. To get started, I'd recommend downloading the wallet (extension or mobile[0]) and registering an account with their demo bank. With the creation of that account, you should receive 100KUDOS tokens of which you can withdraw to your mobile phone / extension. Do so and you'll get a QR code to scan with the amount of KUDOS selected on the web interface. With that "money" you can now go to their demo shop and "buy" excerpts from rms's Free Software, Free Society, or "donate" to a few projects (try donating 5 kudos to simulate a malicious merchant), by again, scanning a QR-Code. If you want to know the details, I'd recommend the paper "How to issue a central bank digital currency[1]" which is very much like Taler. [0]: https://f-droid.org/packages/net.taler.wallet.fdroid [1]: https://www.snb.ch/en/mmr/papers/id/working_paper_2021_03

southerntofu 5y ago

There are pretty good talks from various tech conferences including CCC and FOSDEM. I heard there was a vending machine accepting GNU/Taler payments as a trial at one of these events. In summary, GNU/Taler is a standard for interoperating existing currencies and banks in a privacy-friendly manner: your bank can't know who you received money from or sent money to, but can know how much you received so that you can be taxed according to local regulations. It's a bit like electronic cash if you will.

summm 5y ago
Privacy-friendly? The surveillance-industrial complex is currently enjoying the capability to trace every digital transaction of existing payment system, including individual customers, not only merchants, as for Taler. The will put up some fight to keep it that way. Let's hope that Taler can overcome this.
- southerntofu 5y ago
  > The will put up some fight to keep it that way. That is sure. I'm just pointing out GNU Taler has much less weaknesses (compared to eg. Bitcoin/Zcash) to consider integrating into the current banking system, notably: trust is not distributed pseudo-randomly to whoever has the most hashing power, and income is taxable to comply with government regulations.