Oddbean new post about login | logout I now see the possibility of enabling every npub to issue their own ecash tokens, instead of relying on a third-party mint. This has tremendous value because every npub can issue its own transferable credit notes (cash) and eliminate the mint as a counterparty. Of course, it has to be trusted, but if I trust someone already, this should not be an issue. As well, every credit note has an immediate credible exit - it can be cleared out immediately via lightning. nostr:nevent1qqspswkrj7p944h0qjczspfjplghekerpmmv09asy9zn09l57z0tyycpremhxue69uhkummnw3ez6ur4vgh8wetvd3hhyer9wghxuet59upzqp4hsxwh78rl23eprqnxa4au4pu9mn4wp83kagay4an9cmgasvnuqvzqqqqqqyg6kh9l
As for managing the double spend, it could be done with a cryptographic accumulator.
I like this a lot
Yeah, the simple things pop out, often after years of hard study. I realized that Bitcoin was no different than the reserve settlement systems, other than nobody is in charge. Lightning is like the depository systems that hold collateral, like overnight loans. And ecash is just like regular cash - a transferable credit note. In the earlier private banking systems ‘cash’ had numerous private issuers. It worked (still works) really well, until,someone got the bright idea we needed central banks.
If I can issue and keep track of my own credit notes and can clear out to Lightning, I don’t need to use a mint. I am my own mint.
How is credit to yourself useful? It's all in the same book, so any credit to yourself is automatically cancelled out by the debit. Maybe I'm missing something?
It’s not useful for myself. But it’s useful when I am testing and I am rugging myself. However, since it is a bearer instrument, if I send it to someone else, it suddenly becomes a liability.
So you're thinking of it as a simpler and custodial forms of payment channels perhaps? E.g. I wouldn't immediately cash your zaps, but keep them for a while, and efficiency increases if I then cash them in all at once later?
Few years ago on a podcast I shared how I use lightning to "borrow" against my UTXO's to acquire more Bitcoin, all self-custodial with no counter party risk* Been working for years. *nothing is perfect in this regard (except for cold storage priv keys) but this is the closest thing we have imo
If you hold the ecash from the mint on your npub and the mint shuts down, can you still sweep to lightning? Could you swap to ecash from another mint and melt the ecash from the closed mint? Or would the ecash show invalid if you tried that with the mint closed.
If it’s another mint and it shuts down I am out of luck. If it’s my own mint, I only need to worry about outstanding credit notes that if not redeemed would impact my npub reputation. If I issue credit notes to myself, they don’t really matter because I am issuing a liability to myself.
I already manage multiple mints in #nostr #safebox. I have my own mint so in testing, if I use my own mint, I don't need to worry about lost ecash issued by my mint. No so with other mints.
Ok that makes sense, I like the idea of companies holding bitcoin in reserves and issuing ecash or credit based on their reputation. Especially if it's a local company so its reputation and web of trust are at stake if they rug users. I think cash issuance (credit) is perceived as centralized and gov controlled (since it is today), but like you said that wasn't always the case. Many different private cash (credit) issuers that all work together is a vast improvement over our current credit based systems.