Our purpose
Digital money that works like cash.
eCash Card builds open source cards that hold ecash. Like a banknote, the card belongs to whoever holds it. Anyone can pay with a tap, privately, even when the network is down.
Why we build this
Three things we want to be true
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Cash keeps its properties when it goes digital
Every year more shops, buses and schools take only cards and apps, and each of those payments leaves a record with a company. Ecash is a bearer token: it is spent without asking anyone, and the payer stays unnamed. A card gives it a body.
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A card is enough
Many of the people who would use ecash are children, elders, or people who would rather keep their phone out of it. A card costs a few dollars, works for years without a battery, and the holder carries only the card.
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Payments that work offline
A card and a till can settle between themselves and tell the mint later. The storm, the blackout and the dead zone stop being reasons to turn someone away.
How we work
Commitments every project keeps
- Open source
- Every applet, tool and app is released under the MIT License, with its source on GitHub.
- Keys on the chip
- A card signs with a key made on its own secure element, where it stays. Mints and federations belong to their operators, and the money belongs to whoever holds the card.
- Honest about maturity
- Both projects are experimental prototypes with little outside review. We say so everywhere, and we ask holders to keep small amounts on a card.
- Stewardship
- eCash Card LLC, a California company, holds the projects’ domains, accounts and trademarks, so that neither project depends on any one wallet or company.
The projects
