From 0524fbeec617489eb372d5e0e4d540004c30c171 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Florian Dold <florian.dold@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 19 Aug 2018 22:32:34 +0200
Subject: conclusion first draft

---
 conclusions.tex | 77 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 76 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

(limited to 'conclusions.tex')

diff --git a/conclusions.tex b/conclusions.tex
index 4d5e3c9..1d260b4 100644
--- a/conclusions.tex
+++ b/conclusions.tex
@@ -1,7 +1,79 @@
-
 \chapter{Conclusions and Future Work}
 \section{Conclusions}
 
+% sources and inspirations
+% https://www.bis.org/publ/arpdf/ar2018e5.pdf
+% https://www.bis.org/publ/qtrpdf/r_qt1709f.pdf
+% http://andolfatto.blogspot.com/2015/02/fedcoin-on-desirability-of-government.html
+
+% mention eKrona/Riksbank
+
+Payment systems have far more reaching implications than just their technical
+properties and advances.  Many cryptocurrencies come attached with their own,
+often rather naive version of monetary policy and the associated systemic risks
+for the whole financial system. Completely decentralized cryptocurrencies
+provide either too much or too little anonymity, with negative effects such as
+discriminatory pricing or illegal activity and tax evasion.
+
+Even centrally banked electronic currencies come with their own risks,
+such as:
+\begin{itemize}
+  \item increased risk of a bank run, as it is easier to withdraw digital
+    cash even from remote locations
+  \item increased volatility due to foreign holdings that would
+    not be as easily possible with physical cash
+  \item unavailability in crisis situations without electricity and internet
+    connectivity
+  \item electronic cash carries an increased risk of theft or even disruption
+    from cyber-attacks
+\end{itemize}
+
+With the ongoing digitalization of daily life, some form of electronic cash
+seems to be inevitable.  While some central banks (such as the Swedish
+Riksbank) are already looking for the right technology to implement an
+electronic version of their centrally banked currency, other countries (such as
+Switzerland) tread more carefully in the process of digitizing their centrally
+banked currency.
+
+An electronic version of cash will most likely be a necessity, and implementing
+it with Taler has good trade-offs.  We believe that some of the risks mentioned
+above can be mitigated.  Taler-style e-cash comes with some unique benefits:
+\begin{itemize}
+  \item unique benefit of income transparency compared to cash and traditional
+    Chaum-style e-cash
+  \item third-party anonymity for payers
+  \item avoidance of consumer debt compared to credit cards
+\end{itemize}
+Some of the risks, such as volatility due to foreign holdings and likelihood of bank runs,
+can be mitigated by putting limits on the amount of Taler e-cash that a customer can withdraw.
+This disincentivizes the use of Taler as a means of storage-of-value.
+
+The alternative to (centrally banked) e-cash is a payment system under full
+control of often foreign and unregulated monopoly companies such as Google,
+Apple, Facebook or Microsoft.  While centrally banked digital cash might also
+threaten to disintermediate regulated regulated banks, this scenario is likely
+preferable to a monetary policy under full control of corporate, global and
+unregulated entities.
+
+While cash deserves its role as a means of storage-of-value and payment in the
+forseeable future, the fate of digital payments still remains undecided: Will
+society and politics decide on a system under control of citizens, or on a
+system entirely controlled by corporate overlords.
+
+Taler provides the technical means to implement the former alternative.
+
+As concluded by some more recent reports of banking institutions \cite{XXX},
+the distributed ledger technology underpinning cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin
+might have more potential for applications within or between banks, in the form
+of permissionless blockchains.  Our Byzantine Set Consensus protocol is an
+incremental performance improvement on a vital component of such systems.
+
+In combination with a distributed ledger based on Byzantine Set Consensus,
+Taler can be used for a full-stack, robust payment system, with design
+trade-offs that are more favorable to society that many of the proposed
+alternatives.
+
+
 \section{Future Work}
 \subsection*{Post-Quantum security}
 
@@ -18,6 +90,8 @@
 \subsection*{large, scaleable deployment}
 I.e. sharding, db replication, load balancer(s)
 
+\subsection*{Hardwar security module for exchange}
+
 \subsection*{Bitcoin/Blockchain integration}
 
 \subsection*{UX study and improvements}
@@ -26,6 +100,7 @@ I.e. sharding, db replication, load balancer(s)
 \subsection*{Formal verification of proofs}
 (CryptoVerif, etc.)
 
+\subsection*{Coin Restrictions / ``Taler for Children''}
 
 \subsection{Others/TODO}
 probabilistic auditing
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