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Very different concept: the digital currency in Cryptonomicon was centralized, to be issued by a bank or bank-like institution that owned massive gold reserves
by gws 14y ago
Very different concept: the digital currency in Cryptonomicon was centralized, to be issued by a bank or bank-like institution that owned massive gold reserves and could thus be trusted. The anonymity could be guaranteed because the bank would operate in national state that guaranteed anonymity by law (a so-called data haven).
- arethuza 14y agoThat was one bit of Cryptonomicon that bothered me - the Sultan simply decided one day to guarantee anonymity, but he was an absolute monarch so he could just as easily decide one day to remove anonymity. [Mind you, that is a minor niggle - Cryptonomicon is one of my favourite novels]
- gws 14y agoI agree it is totally unrealistic; no small country could resist the international pressure that would generate