DigiCash

And we did, and then we promptly realized that it really couldn't do very much other than encrypt some very, very small amounts of data and small amounts of data that need to be encrypted and decrypted quickly that kind of leads you to payments, which is how PayPal came about.

But right before [chuckles] all of that began, I went to the wind-down/bankruptcy party for DigiCash, which was the original granddaddy of all digital payments.

And, uh, it was sort of a somber affair.

It was on Stanford University grounds, and there was, like, you know, pouring out of the '40s and a bunch of very sad-looking cyberpunks telling each other how the age of digital payments is not upon us.

I've seen five of these things.

I mean, there was DigiCash.

I mean, you name it, eGold.

And they all failed.