> "I think it's an important step in pioneering this work, but later on we'll probably see more exciting things in the way of digital cash," said Philip R. Zimmermann, a computer security consultant in Boulder, Colo., who created the PGP program.
> Digital cash, Mr. Zimmermann explained, is "a combination of cryptographic protocols that behave the way real dollars behave but are untraceable."
> In other words, they are packets of worth that have value in cyberspace, the same way dollars have value in the real world, except that they have the properties of anonymity, privacy and untraceability. Many details remain to be worked out, Mr. Zimmermann said.
Not really prescient. Cryptographic cash has been something that people have been talking about for a while, and there have even been startups trying to commercialize it. Chaum's ecash was invented in 1983, and he was in the process of trying to commercialize it when this was written (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecash).
Bitcoin is just the first cryptocurrency that has actually managed to take off, but it's been a problem that cryptographers, and in particular cypherpunks (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypherpunk), have been working on for a while.
Basically, what's happened is that this stuff that was kind of fringe and crazy back in the day, but people who were into it were really sure was the future, has actually made a major impact on the world.
Bitcoin without mixing is nice open ledger where everyone can follow transactions. Openness might be good or bad thing.
Bitcoin with mixing is subject to many laws against money laundering (anti-smurfing laws for example). Mixing is not new innovation that came with cryptocurrency.
> "I think it's an important step in pioneering this work, but later on we'll probably see more exciting things in the way of digital cash," said Philip R. Zimmermann, a computer security consultant in Boulder, Colo., who created the PGP program.
> Digital cash, Mr. Zimmermann explained, is "a combination of cryptographic protocols that behave the way real dollars behave but are untraceable."
> In other words, they are packets of worth that have value in cyberspace, the same way dollars have value in the real world, except that they have the properties of anonymity, privacy and untraceability. Many details remain to be worked out, Mr. Zimmermann said.