FIRST VIRTUAL (FV) uses a very different approach to digital money. No encryption techniques are used. FV writes [Vir95]:
With FV, encryption isn't needed. Encryption is almost always cumbersome and difficult. And it always adds an additional step, and something else to worry about. Rather than use encryption, we decided to design a system in which it wouldn't be necessary.By putting these insights together, the founders of FV invented a scheme that's so simple that everyone can understand and use it, yet robust enough that it can be used for almost any kind of information purchase. It's a system that lets most buyers try before they buy, and lets sellers set their own prices according to the return they require on their development costs.
FV intended to enter the electronic commerce market immediately, by using a simple system which is easy to implement. There are a few assumptions that FV assumes but did not state:
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