Why Bitcoin Now: David Chaum and Adam Back Reflect on the Crypto Wars - Ep.186

David Chaum, the inventor of eCash and CEO of xx network, and Adam Back, the inventor of Hashcash and the cofounder and CEO of Blockstream, discuss their involvement in digital currency well before Bitcoin existed. In this episode, they discuss:
how they each became enamored with the idea of digital currency years before such an idea was widely discussed
the crypto wars of the 1990s and the U.S. government’s attempts to control access to advanced cryptography
Digicash, the creation of eCash, and the difficulties of implementing the system with the technology available at the time
the innovation of blind signatures used in eCash
what caused the demise of Digicash, and David's role in that
the development of Hashcash and the problems Adam was trying to solve by creating it
their initial reactions to learning about Bitcoin for the first time
how they think Bitcoin might improve in the future
the stock-to-flow Model, and where they believe the Bitcoin price might go next
why the Hashcash proof-of-work mechanism became so widely used 
 
Thank you to our sponsor! 
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com/
 
Episode links: 
Adam Back: https://twitter.com/adam3us
Blockstream: https://blockstream.com 
Adam's website: http://www.cypherspace.org
 
David Chaum: https://twitter.com/chaumdotcom
Elixxir: https://elixxir.io 
XX Network: https://xx.network
 
Previous Unchained episode on the history of digital currency: https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-bitcoin-now-the-history-of-digital-currency/
 
Wired article on “e-money”: https://www.wired.com/1994/12/emoney/  
 
Translated Dutch article on why DigiCash failed:  https://cryptome.org/jya/digicrash.htm
 
Aaron Van Wirdum's Bitcoin Magazine series on the history of digital currency:  https://www.whatbitcoindid.com/podcast/the-beginners-guide-to-bitcoin-part-3-bitcoins-pre-history-and-the-cypherpunks-with-aaron-van-wirdum 
 
David Chaum's e-Cash: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/genesis-files-how-david-chaums-ecash-spawned-cypherpunk-dream
Hashcash: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/genesis-files-hashcash-or-how-adam-back-designed-bitcoins-motor-block
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