[Taler] Taler roll out

[Klaus Schleisiek]

Hi guys, this is my first contribution to this list:


Am 07.01.2016 um 21:02 schrieb Florian Dold:
> What is the harm in having the fulfillment signature right now, which
> might be ignored by current wallets, but that might be used by future
> wallets that provide merchant PKI support?

I think that we have very different problems at present. We are talking about a
piece of software that nobody uses. Why should we optimize it if it works good
enough to be rolled out. Rolling out is the real problem.

I see three different directions, which should all be explored:

1) Running a prototype phase without bank.
2) Finding a bank that is prepared to give it a look.
3) Finding a strong merchant that might be interested.

1) Running a prototype phase without bank.

Perhaps the Wau Holland Foundation could act as the first mint, setting aside a
bank account, which will be reviewed by another trustworthy institution.

But what type of commerce would result out of this?
Who would be the merchants to offer Taler as payment method?

Scenario 1) is an artificial game, which some Nerds may be prepared to wage if
they are curious enough. But they would have to put real money on the table. A
way out may be to offer Taler as a percentage kick-back for donations to the
WHS. But even then, what could you do with it?

The "non bank" version has drawbacks:

a) Time delay between payment into the mint account and receipt of Talers. That
already is frustrating to ealy users.

b) The clerical handling of it: Setting up customer records from the SEPA
account information and issuing Talers. Pay out to the merchants. How would this
be financed?

2) Finding a bank that is prepared to give it a look.

We should locate people in the banking community, who are looking at internet
payment systems. I am sure that they exist, bankers are not stupid. Do they have
conferences about this?

But the bankers will have the same problem as we have: Who would be using it?
Therefore, in the initialization phase, we have to minimize the cost for the
bank to co-operate with a mint or the set up their own mint.

3) Finding a strong merchant that might be interested.

Large warehouses. E.g. Otto Versand even have their own bank. We should look for
strong internet merchants in Europe as potential co-operation partners. If they
are prepared to offer Taler as payment method, it will no longer be a problem to
find a bank partner as well.

I believe that scenario 3 is the most promising one.
-- 
Klaus Schleisiek

Wau-Holland-Stiftung                   W
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