[taler-marketing] 01/02: Introduction to currencies and CBDC

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commit 5186f981699ff4eeba786a3d25fa0a05fbafac76
Author: Emmanuel Benoist <emmanuel.benoist@bfh.ch>
AuthorDate: Wed Jan 26 16:38:54 2022 +0100

    Introduction to currencies and CBDC
---
 ...jetons_la_nouvelle_concurrence_des_monnaies.pdf | Bin 0 -> 12874741 bytes
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 2022-privacy/literature.bib                        |  59 +++++++++-
 2022-privacy/privacy.tex                           | 130 ++++++++++++++++++---
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diff --git a/2022-privacy/literature.bib b/2022-privacy/literature.bib
index 7e14cd9..ec6b004 100644
--- a/2022-privacy/literature.bib
+++ b/2022-privacy/literature.bib
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
 }
 
 @article{french2021,
-  author =       {Gilles Dowek and Elisabeth Grosdhomme and Joëlle Toledano},
+  author =       {Gilles Dowek and Elisabeth Grosdhomme and Joëlle Toledano 
and Jean-Marc Vittori},
   title =        {Billets et jetons --- La Nouvelle concurrence des monnaies},
   journal =      {Counseil National Du Numerique},
   year =         {2021},
@@ -393,3 +393,60 @@ series = {SEC'16}
   howpublished = {Webpräsenz von Eurostat},
   url          = {https://bit.ly/32iWEyV}
 }
+@book{dannen2017introducing,
+  title={Introducing Ethereum and solidity},
+  author={Dannen, Chris},
+  volume={318},
+  year={2017},
+  publisher={Springer}
+}
+@article{noether2015ring,
+  title={Ring SIgnature Confidential Transactions for Monero.},
+  author={Noether, Shen},
+  journal={IACR Cryptol. ePrint Arch.},
+  volume={2015},
+  pages={1098},
+  year={2015}
+}
+@article{nakamoto2008re,
+  title={Re: Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper},
+  author={Nakamoto, Satoshi},
+  journal={The Cryptography Mailing List},
+  year={2008}
+}
+
+
+
+@misc{dictionaryCurrency,
+  author       = {Currency},
+  title        = {Dictionary.com},
+  howpublished = {\url{{https://www.dictionary.com/browse/currency}}}
+}
+
+@misc{LeRobertMonnaie,
+  author       = {Monnaie},
+  title        = {{Dictionnaire Le Robert}},
+  howpublished = {\url{https://dictionnaire.lerobert.com/definition/monnaie}}
+}
+
+@book{cattaneo2016man,
+  title={MAN and SHELLS Molluscs in the History},
+  author={Cattaneo-Vietti, Riccardo and Doneddu, Mauro and Trainito, Egidio},
+  year={2016},
+  publisher={Bentham Science Publishers}
+}
+
+@misc{WikipediaFrancCFA,
+  author       = {Franc CFA},
+  title        = {Wikipedia  {Franc CFA}},
+  howpublished = {\url{https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franc_CFA}}
+}
+
+@misc{BISHelvetia2020,
+  author       = {BIS},
+  title        = {Project Helvetia Phase I: Settling tokenised assets in 
central bank money},
+  howpublished = {\url{https://www.bis.org/publ/othp35.pdf}},
+  year         = 2020,
+  month        = {December}
+}
+
diff --git a/2022-privacy/privacy.tex b/2022-privacy/privacy.tex
index 6282bb1..d34b0ac 100644
--- a/2022-privacy/privacy.tex
+++ b/2022-privacy/privacy.tex
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 \usepackage{enumitem}
 
 \title{Accounts are an Unnecessary Evil \\ A critique of two papers}
-\author{Antoinne Aligny \and Emmanuel Benoist \and Florian Dold \and
+\author{Antoine d'Aligny \and Emmanuel Benoist \and Florian Dold \and
         Christian Grothoff \and \"Ozg\"ur Kesim \and Martin Schanzenbach}
 \date{\today}
 \begin{document}
@@ -40,20 +40,116 @@ system.  Our paper attempts to set the record straight.
 }
 
 \section{Introduction}
-
-FIXME: We had discussed doing a brief introduction of terms here:
-cryptocurrency, CBDC, retail CBDC vs. wholesale CBDC.
-
-Emmanuel: you wanted to integrate this with your critique:
-
-Part two of the report is of a much better level, one should still note that
-the ontological difference between pure digital currencies and traditional
-currencies is not very well addressed.
-
-
-After introducing retail vs. wholesale CBDC, we should
-mention French report's confusion between retail CBDC (SNB-Taler
-paper) and wholesale CBDC (Swiss Helvetia project).
+\label{sec:intro}
+
+
+Currency is ``\emph{something that is used as a medium of exchange;
+money.}''\cite{dictionaryCurrency}. For the french dictionary, currency (i.e. 
la
+monnaie) is an ``\emph{Instrument of measurement and conservation of value, 
legal means of exchanging goods}''\footnote{``Instrument de mesure et de 
conservation de la valeur, moyen
+légal d'échange des biens.''}, or ``\emph{Unit of value accepted and used in a 
country, a group of countries.}''\footnote{``Unité de valeur admise et utilisée 
dans un
+pays, un ensemble de pays.''} \cite{LeRobertMonnaie}
+
+% Money is therefore used both for exchange and for the conservation of
+% value. Historically, humans have used several objects allowing to exchange
+% easily and at the same time to preserve their value. It could have been be
+% salt (to pay Roman soldiers) or shells (in Africa and in parts of the
+% Indo-Pacific)\cite{cattaneo2016man}. Since antiquity the western peoples have
+% used metallic coins which were  replaced during the twentieth century by 
fiat currencies.
+
+The expected properties of a currency are therefore: conservation of value and 
availability for exchange. One must therefore trust the issuer of the currency 
to obtain these two properties. Historically, minting money was a sovereign 
privilege. The states inherited this privilege and creating money was a 
privilege transferred to the central banks. 
+
+% Actuellement, la monnaie est créé par les
+% banque centrales (wholesale currency) et les banques de détail (à travers des
+% crédits accordés à leurs clients) créent aussi de la monnaie (retail
+% currency).
+
+% Central banks were initially linked to the state, which delegated to them the
+% privilege of minting money. There are currently many states that no longer
+% have a purely national currency. The 11 European states of the Eurozone have
+% transferred the management of the Euro to the European Central Bank. The
+% African countries of the franc zone use the CFA franc, which is ``\emph{a 
fixed parity
+% currency with the euro, whose value is guaranteed by the French treasury}'' 
\footnote{``une contre-valeur à parité fixe avec l'euro, dont la valeur est
+% garantie par le trésor public français''}\cite{WikipediaFrancCFA}.
+
+
+Recently, new currencies, the digital currencies, have appeared. The first and
+best known of them is Bitcoin \cite{nakamoto2008re}. These currencies are very
+heterogeneous and based on different principles. Some use a blockchain
+(Bitcoin was the first currency to use it), others do not and are tocken based
+(Taler\cite{talerPrinciples}).  Among those using a blockchain, some use proof
+of works (Bitcoin), others use proof of stakes
+(Ethereum\cite{dannen2017introducing}). Some are totally transparent
+(Bitcoin), others protect the anonymity of transactions (Monero
+\cite{noether2015ring}).
+
+Most digital currencies seek to have the properties of a currency, the
+conservation of value and the availability for exchange. For the two largest
+of them (BTC and ETH), we must note that since their creation they have been
+able to play the two roles of a currency. These currencies are both available
+for exchange and can be hoarded. These currencies are subject to great
+variations in price, but they are far from the variations of the Argentine
+Peso. Some also have limited availability for real-time transactions, with
+Bitcoin for example requiring a very long validation time preventing its use
+for everyday purchases, but can be used for remote purchases (on the Darknet
+for example).
+
+Central banks manage fiat currencies. These currencies are also mainly digital
+(and therefore virtual), transactions using real coins and bills are becoming
+increasingly rare. The quantity of money, as well as
+the interest rate at which this money is made available to banks, allows 
central
+banks to influence the value of the currencies they manage. The large virtual
+currencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin cash, Monero, ...) do not have these
+means at their disposal and are self-regulated (with rules written into the
+algorithms). Their characteristics are then closer to those of the gold
+market. The fight against inflation is done by limiting the production of new
+money.
+
+In the rest of this paper, we will study the possibilities of realizing a
+Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). There are two types of CBDCs, retail
+CBDCs and wholesale CBDCs. Central banks will be interested in using virtual
+currencies for two main purposes. Virtual currencies can be used to trade
+between banks and between the central bank and banks (wholesale CBDC). An
+example of wholesale CBDC can be found in the description of the project
+Helvetia of the Swiss National Bank\cite{BISHelvetia2020}. Central banks can
+also develop a virtual currency to manage the current expenses of the
+citizens, providing in this case the equivalent to the current bills and
+coins. This is called retail CBDC. The rest of this paper will concentrate on
+retail CBDC.
+
+This article presents our comments regarding two papers that have been written
+by the European Central Bank (ECB)~\cite{ecb2021}  and the French National 
Council for
+Digital\footnote{Conseil national du numérique} (CNNum)~\cite{french2021}. 
+
+In the next section, we explain why the ECB should not be the only guardian of
+the privacy of the european citizen. We see no use in modifying the role of
+the ECB.
+Section~\ref{sec:coupling} presents how the coupling of a CBDC with an
+identity system is a bad idea. We address in
+Section~\ref{sec:disintermediation} the risk of a retail CBDC to promote the
+disintermadiation that would make traditional bank useless and how it can be 
addressed. 
+
+The second part of this paper presents solutions for developing a good
+CBDC. In Section~\ref{sec:tokenization} we present how tokenization can help
+to build a eGold or a system allowing micropayments in Bitcoins and
+Ethereum. We then present in Section~\ref{sec:design} the design principles
+that any retail CBDC must integrate, and finaly present in
+Section~\ref{sec:taler} the GNU Taler system that can be used to implement a
+retail CBDC. 
+
+
+% FIXME: We had discussed doing a brief introduction of terms here:
+% cryptocurrency, CBDC, retail CBDC vs. wholesale CBDC.
+
+% Emmanuel: you wanted to integrate this with your critique:
+
+% Part two of the report is of a much better level, one should still note that
+% the ontological difference between pure digital currencies and traditional
+% currencies is not very well addressed.
+
+
+% After introducing retail vs. wholesale CBDC, we should
+% mention French report's confusion between retail CBDC (SNB-Taler
+% paper) and wholesale CBDC (Swiss Helvetia project).
 
 
 \section{The ECB cannot be the Guardian of Privacy}
@@ -153,7 +249,7 @@ CBDC.
 
 
 \section{Harmful coupling with identity}
-
+\label{sec:coupling}
 The arguably most dangerous idea of the ECB report is ``combining use of
 digital identity and CBDC''. The same idea is echoed in the French report
 which quotes Catenae~\cite{catenae2020} to say that ``it is difficult to
@@ -231,6 +327,7 @@ cost-effective, but it contributes to the conversion of 
soverign citizens to
 digital subjects.
 
 \section{Addressing Balance Sheet Disintermediation via Self-Custody}
+\label{sec:disintermediation}
 
 % FIXME: This is probably true in above statements as well but
 % whenever the report is referenced, a more specific pointer would be
@@ -274,6 +371,7 @@ citizens and businesses would themselves determine 
appropriate individual
 limits for their CBDC holdings based on their actual cash needs.
 
 \section{Tokenization beyond CBDC}
+\label{sec:tokenization}
 
 With electronic tokens it is possible to implement payment systems that are
 not CBDCs. For example, a Swiss group around Claudio

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