From 1a4be042ceb174d6c5f547be76a1920ddc362b8b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Stefan Kügel
-Join us on our journey towards informational self-determination in payments.
-As part of NGI TALER, NLnet Foundation
-is running an open call and will award grants
-to third parties working on GNU Taler enhancements globally. The application
-process is simple and the first
-submission deadline is April 1st 2024.
+
+We are excited to announce the creation of a European project December 1st 2023, which
+will run for the next 36 months. This Next Generation Internet pilot named "NGI TALER" is
+operated by a consortium of 11 partners from 8 European countries with the mandate to roll
+out an innovative electronic payment system for the greater benefit of European citizens,
+merchants, and banks. This payment system is different from current online payment
+methods, like credit cards or bank transfers, in that it offers privacy for the buyer:
+neither merchants nor banks can trace or link the payments. It is also a no-risk payment
+option for the merchant as there is no equivalent of fake or stolen credit cards, as
+payments are cleared and confirmed instantly. The payment system is socially, ecologically
+and fiscally responsible: it is not a new currency, there is no energy-consuming
+proof-of-work or proof-of-stake method and clearing is processed much faster than payments
+by credit cards. NGI TALER enforces transparency on the merchants so that states ensure
+that businesses can be held accountable for their income and pay their taxes.
+
+NGI TALER is funded as a pilot under the Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative within
+the European Commission's Horizon Europe research funding program. This project is based
+on the free software GNU Taler which has been developed by the GNU community and Taler
+Systems S.A., and which has received wide praise from financial experts including experts
+from several central banks - including the Swiss National Bank (SNB). The goal is to make
+GNU Taler available as payment system via two European banks - GLS Bank (Germany) and
+MagNet Bank (Hungary). NGI TALER's ambition is to reach the European market during the
+project period and have the payment mechanism accepted and widely adopted by the end of
+the project.
+
+Under the hood, GNU Taler deploys state-of-the-art cryptography to achieve these features.
+The initial investment into the required infrastructure is low and the payment mechanism
+operates more cost efficiently than existing payment solutions, with lower transaction
+fees - a benefit that will be shared by consumers and merchants. This makes even
+micro-payments possible, creating an interesting and privacy preserving alternative to
+subscription- or advertisement-based revenue for newspapers and other publishers.
+
+NGI TALER is coordinated by the Coding Theory and Cryptology group at Eindhoven University
+of Technology and has 10 more partners:
+Funding opportunities for GNU Taler developers
-New EU project NGI TALER will bring private and secure online payments to the Eurozone
+
+
+
+For more information see the project's webpage at https://www.taler.net/en/ngi-taler.html +or contact the coordinator Tanja Lange.
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