Federated Ecash

Four years after someone bought a cup of coffee with ecash, the privacy technology being built on top of Bitcoin continues to improve. From Fedimint and Cashu to new protocols like BitVM, developers, activists, and users are uniting to ensure that transactional privacy with Bitcoin is available to all.

In 2022, Obi Nwosu had a vision to empower disenfranchised communities worldwide with technology that could help them more easily custody and use their bitcoin. As of August 6, 2024, that vision became a reality when Fedi launched its superapp, which is much more than just a platform for money management.

As seen in “The Withdrawal Issue”, Cashu allows the use of ecash on Bitcoin, empowering ordinary users to operate a mint that is connected to the Lightning Network.

Fedi raised $4 million to accelerate the development of the Fedimint protocol and its companion app Fedi — tools that can improve and scale bitcoin custody.

FediMint could provide the Bitcoin stack with an open source, distributed, censorship resistant custody layer for less technical Bitcoin users.

Bitcoin 2022 held a fireside conversation about Federated Chaumian Mints, which the panelists argued could play a big role in the future of Bitcoin privacy.

Discussing Bitcoin and Federated Ecash, a Blockstream-sponsored project that builds on David Chaum's Digicash startup from the early 1990s.