💵 [Analysis] The case for electronic cash - Jerry Brito

Cash is the aorta of the liberal open society. As a technology, cash provides unheralded access to privacy through bearable and permissionless peer-to-peer exchanges. However, the rise of digitization has thrown a kink in this timeless tech: intermediaries have more knowledge, and therefore more power, than ever. China, for instance, has developed a social credit score system around Tencent's WeChat and Alibaba's Alipay that rewards and penalizes citizens based on spending habits. Even in the United States, companies are leveraging consumer data for individualized marketing programs. Privacy is an essential human freedom and historically cash has been the vehicle for anonymous transactions. Yet, physical cash is quickly losing its privacy crown as the digital economy grows. To keep an open society, electronic cash systems must be developed. To date, multiple projects exist, even outside Bitcoin ($BTC) such as Grin ($grin), Beam ($beam), or Zcash ($ZEC). It is becoming increasingly clear, by example from both authoritarian and capitalist regimes, that cash must evolve if human flourishing is to continue.