EMONEY
DigiCash founder David Chaum worried that completely anonymous electronic cash would be dangerous stuff, ideal for money launderers or drug cartels. So he designed his eCash with some built-in accountability.
But when DigiCash went into Chapter 11 late last year, it left the once proprietary technology open to the very practices Chaum feared. First up: eCache, software designed to make electronic money harder to trace than cash itself.
Led by Citicorp R&D alum Steve Schear, the eCache team reverse-engineered DigiCash's micropayment protocol and developed its own client-side software. eCache may infringe on DigiCash patents, but even if Schear can't get permission to release the application, he says that won't stop him.
"We can still distribute it from Web sites in countries such as South Africa, where the patents aren't recognized," he explains.
Anyway, eCache isn't aiming for the mass market - just the cash market. "I'm looking for businesses and wealthy people who want to conduct truly private transactions of unlimited value," says Schear. "If you want to buy a yacht without going through the banking system, I'll provide a way to do that."
Will eCache be used for tax evasion and money laundering?
"Some people may misuse privacy," Schear concedes. "I'm just trying to bring back traditional banking values. We'll receive payment for electronic value, and what happens afterward is none of our business."
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