{"id":187,"date":"2014-07-09T00:13:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-09T00:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.holytransaction.com\/bitcoin-history-pre-blockchain-digita\/"},"modified":"2020-11-09T04:26:22","modified_gmt":"2020-11-09T02:26:22","slug":"bitcoin-history-pre-blockchain-digital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/bitcoin-history-pre-blockchain-digital.html","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin history: pre-blockchain digital currencies"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
<\/div>\n

(CoinTelegraph<\/a>) For anyone not involved in
\nmid-90s cypherpunk scenes or early e-cash projects, the term \u201cdigital
\ncurrency\u201d probably never came up in conversation until quite recently,
\nafter the advent of Bitcoin<\/a>.
\nBut Satoshi\u2019s white paper<\/a>
\ndid not invent digital money; that\u2019s an idea as old as mainstream
\ninternet usage itself. Bitcoin, and the altcoins it spawned, just
\nhappened to be so revolutionary that all those electronic currencies
\npre-2009https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/page\/before-bitcoin<\/a> get overshadowed.
\nIt\u2019s like the Christian calendar. There is before-Bitcoin (BB), and then there is the current era, (AB).
\nLet\u2019s take a look at some pre-Bitcoin technologies to get an idea of how far cryptocurrencies have come<\/a> since.<\/p>\n

1990: DigiCash<\/h4>\n

In 1982, cryptographer David Chaum applied the idea of blind signatures<\/a> to money in his paper \u201cBlind Signature for Untraceable Payments<\/a>.\u201d
\nEight years later, he took these cryptographic protocols to market with
\nDigiCash, a company that ultimately went bankrupt in 1998.<\/p>\n

1996: E-Gold<\/h4>\n

E-Gold sounded like a fine idea at the time: Create an account, send
\nin your gold or silver, and your accounted would be credited. Those
\ncredits could then be easily transferred among accounts. The company
\nslowly built a successful operation through the late 90s.
\nBy 2001, E-Gold was running into problems, however. The US Patriot
\nAct, first of all, tightened regulations on businesses that could be
\nclassified as money transmitters. Gaining money transmitter licenses for
\nall 50 states proved too big of a hassle for E-Gold and its
\ncompetitors.
\nFurthermore, a campaign began to grow against E-Gold that marked it
\nas the currency of money launderers and child pornographers. A federal
\nindictment followed in 2005, which marked the end of E-Gold as a
\nmeaningful alternative currency.<\/p>\n

1998: Beenz.com<\/h4>\n

Beenz was a currency created to incentivize behavior such as visiting
\nspecific websites, logging on through specific ISPs or shopping at
\ncertain stores. This was back before the dot-com bubble burst, when
\nbored teenagers could take online quizzes, and marketing companies would
\nsend them free stuff in the mail.
\nBut the fetten Jahren ran their course, and Beenz.com was gone by 2001.<\/p>\n

1999: Flooz.com<\/h4>\n

Flooz had a similar name and similar model to Beenz: Users were
\nrewarded for activity with flooz, which served as a medium of exchange
\namong its network of partners. Like Beenz, also, Flooz went bust in the
\ndot-com crash.<\/p>\n

1999: InternetCash.com<\/h4>\n

InterenetCash.com filed a number of patents to protect its monetary
\nsystem based on prepaid cards, and it also relied on a network of
\nparticipating merchants where that cash could be redeemed. The company
\nultimately raised $10 million in funding and had a staff of about 70
\nemployees before the dot-com crash forced the company to close in August
\n2001.
\nAfter 2001, when economic realities hit many internet startups hard,
\ndigital money never really caught on again, beyond some niche users,
\nuntil Nakamoto published the Bitcoin white paper in 2008. Of course, it
\ntook a few years for most of us in the cryptocurrency community to catch
\non, at which point cryptocurrencies took off far beyond what their
\npredecessors did.<\/p>\n

We asked some community experts what present feature or
\npresent reality in cryptocurrency tech today we will find funny and
\nold-fashioned in 15 years or so?<\/strong>
\nAleksey Bragin<\/a><\/strong>:
\n\u201cSo many useless (or sometimes funny, as DogeCoin for example) alt
\ncryptocurrency clones emerged so quickly. That would go out of fashion
\nquicker than within 15 years, I suppose.\u201d
\nGideon Gallasch<\/strong> (coinsulting.eu): \u201cI think mining – so much power and electricity is not sustainable long term.\u201d
\nLech Wilczy\u0144ski<\/strong> (Co-Founder\/CEO \/ Developer at InPay S.A.): \u201cCentralized exchanges.\u201d
\nJ. Ryan Conley<\/strong> (CEO & Founder at Ryan Conley
\nMarketing & Training and CEO & Founder at Team Extreme
\nWorldwide): “That the banks were last to catch on to this awesome
\nconcept! Staged viral video marketing platform.”
\nPatrick Dugan<\/a><\/strong> (CIO of Crypto Currency Concepts): \u201cCentralized exchanges for sure, mining possibly.\u201d
\nLech Wilczy\u0144ski <\/strong>(InPay.pl): \u201cBitcoin payment gateway.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Open your free digital wallet here<\/a> to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(CoinTelegraph) For anyone not involved in mid-90s cypherpunk scenes or early e-cash projects, the term \u201cdigital currency\u201d probably never came up in conversation until quite recently, after the advent of Bitcoin. But Satoshi\u2019s white paper did not invent digital money; that\u2019s an idea as old as mainstream internet usage itself. Bitcoin, and the altcoins it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,76,191,331],"tags":[764,871,1007],"yoast_head":"\nBitcoin history: pre-blockchain digital currencies -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/bitcoin-history-pre-blockchain-digital.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bitcoin history: pre-blockchain digital currencies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(CoinTelegraph) For anyone not involved in mid-90s cypherpunk scenes or early e-cash projects, the term \u201cdigital currency\u201d probably never came up in conversation until quite recently, after the advent of Bitcoin. 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