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How is Taler related to Bitcoin or Blockchains?

Taler does not use any Blockchain technology or Bitcoin directly. Taler is not based on proof-of-work or any other distributed consensus mechanism. Instead Taler is based on blind signatures.

It would be possible, however, to withdraw Bitcoins into a Taler wallet (with an approproate exchange), which would give some benefits ofer plain Bitcoin, such as instant confirmation times.

Where is the balance in my wallet stored?

Your wallet stores tokens that are blindly signed by an exchange. Until your spend balance with a merchant, the exchange holds it in escrow.

What if my wallet gets lost?

Since the digital tokens of value in your wallet are anonymized, the exchange can not assist you in restoring a lost or stolen wallet. Just like with a physical wallet for cash, you are responsible for keeping it safe.

The risk of losing a wallet can be mitigated by backups or keeping the balance reasonably low.

In case of a compromise of one of your devices, an attacker that spends coins on your behalf will make it possible for you to know that you've been compromised, which can be an advantage.

Can I send money to my friend with Taler?

You can share coins in your wallet with people you trust, like family or friends. Whenever these shared coins are spent, the other copies become invalid. Sharing coins this does not constitute a transaction, is not taxable and requires trust between the sharing parties.

If your friend provides goods or services for you in exchange for a payment, they can easily set up a Taler merchant and receive the payment on their bank account.

How does Taler handle payments in different currencies?

Taler wallets can store digital coins corresponding to multiple diffent currencies such as the Euro, US Dollars or even Bitcoins.

Automatic currency converstion is currently not our focus, but could be made available in the future, either with exchanges that handle multiple currencies, or other means of multi-currency payment routing.

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