Digicash was a digital form of money, and it had cryptographic protocols, so it was kind of like a cryptocurrency in that sense. But from what I understand, it wasn't decentralized like Bitcoin is. Also, it was just too early for that idea to gain enough attention. I don't think the problem was with turning down the deal from Microsoft. I think the time was just wrong. Kind of like with the Virtual Boy by Nintendo, at a time when it was just too early for something like VR.
Bitcoin, on the other hand, came right after a major global economic crisis, when the reputation of banks and the traditional economy declined. And still it took a while for Bitcoin to actually become interesting to wide circles of people.
Topic: Let's assume David chaum took the $180 million in 1999 (Read 162 times)
Bitcoin is so popular for being decentralized many claim themselves as the founders of cryptocurrencies. But it is different for other coins but it will not have any effect on bitcoin. Chaum has sold his project to Microsoft it depends on the owner of the company how much he will pay. Bitcoin has no impact on capitalization bitcoin will continue to rise above its demand curve. Bitcoin is less likely to fail and altcoins will survive with bitcoin.
David chaum the founder of the first crypto currency (Digicash) that stirred up lots of reactions way back 1999. After been offered $180 million on his inventory by Microsoft who had plans on installing it on every computer
DigiCash was founded in 1989 and the offer of Microsoft came in 1999 but I found inconsistency in their offer value.Bitcoin Prehistory.
Digital Cash as the New Payment Medium
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A digital representation of physical cash has existed now for quite some time, at least as a concept. One of its biggest promoters was Dr David Chaum, founder of DigiCash. When Microsoft offered to buy DigiCash for US$75m, Chaum declined and later the most prominent early developer of digital cash filed for bankruptcy.
Bill Gates wanted to include DigiCash’s representation of electronic cash (e-cash) in Windows 95. If DigiCash had become a part of Windows, we all might be using e-cash on a daily basis by now. However, the e-cash enthusiasm of the 1990s is gone.
Bill Gates wanted to include DigiCash’s representation of electronic cash (e-cash) in Windows 95. If DigiCash had become a part of Windows, we all might be using e-cash on a daily basis by now. However, the e-cash enthusiasm of the 1990s is gone.
The History Of Digital Currencies Part 1 — From DigiCash To Bitcoin
This one writes that the offer is $100M.
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Will the market capitalization be as high as Bitcoin or would it still have failed?. If it had made much progress would Bitcoin have taken the place of been addressed as an altcoin?
Bitcoin succeeds because it is decentralized. Its founder left the project, community when the project is still young but maybe Satoshi saw signals of success and decided to leave. This decision makes Bitcoin is truly a decentralized project and network, no risk of take over by government. 
The first crypto coin to be born was bitcoin and that was 2009 not 1999. and if digital payments were before bitcoin there were a lot of liberty reserve, perfectmoney, paypal and more. there are a lot of digital payments.
I don’t think so. What makes bitcoin really unique is that there’s really no corporate or anyone that owns and controls bitcoin. Thinking about it, maybe this is why satoshi nakamoto decided to be anonymous. He didn’t want anyone trying to buy his idea away from him.
A lot of corporate groups ruin innovations because all they think about is profit and profit. Which was something that bitcoin never had to go through.
A lot of corporate groups ruin innovations because all they think about is profit and profit. Which was something that bitcoin never had to go through.
Microsoft has this history of 'microsoft touch' and everything and every company that they acquire and touches, fails. I've just read it somewhere long time ago and that was actually right. If Microsoft took over the digital cash then it's likely that it will fail because there will be more competition that will come out from that idea. Well, it might be a blessing in disguise that David didn't sell it to them but started it out. Speaking of him, AFAIK, he's started some crypto projects too but I don't think they have become popular.
thats kindof a rapey thing you decided to add.
David chaum the founder of the first crypto currency (Digicash) that stirred up lots of reactions way back 1999. After been offered $180 million on his inventory by Microsoft who had plans on installing it on every computer which he turned down even when he didn't have much funds to sponsor the project and didn't even know how to sell his digital currency to the world and when he went bankrupt the idea died. Let's assume Chaum sold his project to Microsoft would it have had similar impact Bitcoin has on the society today. Will the market capitalization be as high as Bitcoin or would it still have failed?. If it had made much progress would Bitcoin have taken the place of been addressed as an altcoin?
Big companies acquire little companies all the time, and just like most companies in genelrall i don't think majority of them are going anywhere. I recon big companies buy them mostly because their own organic growth isn't fast enough and they want to stay relevant and keep speculators interested. At the time of digicash, it was the cutting edge tech and they were really on to something. Bitcoin succeeded because it was born on the right time and under right circumstances. Right people aquired it just a right amount and right people bought it when it was relatively cheap. If digicash had been succeeded microsoft realized that it would bring a lot of more investors, bringing their own stock value up. So they took a risk, just like with most of their acquisitions.
Writing alternative history for something like that is hard, but i recon that Mircosoft was seen as the "suits", and reason bitcoin succeeded was because it was anti-suits. It was rebellious and anarchist. It seemed to be all the things cyberpunk franchise promised future to be. It was something people really wanted, so it was attractive. Another money from "suits". would never had that kind of effect. Also it would be highly centralized and probably died because it would be forced to something else by regulators.
Microsoft has this history of 'microsoft touch' and everything and every company that they acquire and touches, fails. I've just read it somewhere long time ago and that was actually right. If Microsoft took over the digital cash then it's likely that it will fail because there will be more competition that will come out from that idea. Well, it might be a blessing in disguise that David didn't sell it to them but started it out. Speaking of him, AFAIK, he's started some crypto projects too but I don't think they have become popular.
It would either be just another centralized payment system like PayPal, or it would just fail and get shut down (I think this was more likely). Idk why would David Chaum's project be called "the first cryptocurrency". Because it used some cryptography? If the bar is that low, then credit cards are also cryptocurrency, because they use cryptography too.
Let's assume Chaum sold his project to Microsoft would it have had similar impact Bitcoin has on the society today. Will the market capitalization be as high as Bitcoin or would it still have failed?. If it had made much progress would Bitcoin have taken the place of been addressed as an altcoin?
It would certainly not have had the same impact as Bitcoin. Being owned by a corporate company with focus on profits it would have not been decentralized at all, just functioning as a financial payment gateway which was superior to the rest.The market capitalization could have grown as large or even larger depending on how well it was managed, but the impact of bicoin goes beyond the market cap and it would still have been an altcoin.
you have a private security company that is no longer on their leash.
Doubt it. The fact that David Chaum actually had the option of selling the project itself is a huge downside. And if Microsoft ended up being the "owner" of it, at some point the government would force Microsoft to push an update to make everything custodial(assuming it wasn't custodial to start with).
Bitcoin was successful because Satoshi left early, and handed over the project to the community. Ending up with Bitcoin having no single point of failure.
Bitcoin was successful because Satoshi left early, and handed over the project to the community. Ending up with Bitcoin having no single point of failure.
David chaum the founder of the first crypto currency (Digicash) that stirred up lots of reactions way back 1999. After been offered $180 million on his inventory by Microsoft who had plans on installing it on every computer which he turned down even when he didn't have much funds to sponsor the project and didn't even know how to sell his digital currency to the world and when he went bankrupt the idea died. Let's assume Chaum sold his project to Microsoft would it have had similar impact Bitcoin has on the society today. Will the market capitalization be as high as Bitcoin or would it still have failed?. If it had made much progress would Bitcoin have taken the place of been addressed as an altcoin?
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