An electronic money system based on distributed database

Electronic cash may be the most fundamental elements on the electronic commerce. The control of money flow by the finance administration authorities must be considered to alter from conventional cash. The central bank coordinates a quantity of publication of a currency and coordinates money supply so that inflation does not occur. The money has three function of the information, the evidence and symbol. The function of symbol is important factor to prevent duplicate reuse of money. We propose an electronic cash system using distributed database of a central bank as new settlement method. In this system, the money is issued by the central bank and the value of money is not stored in users hardware such as IC cards. A money and a user are linked by public key cryptography which implements the symbolic function. The database of the central bank is not a bank account, but manages the value of the issued cash. The user can possess the cash anonymously. Furthermore, the money supply could be controlled by the central bank. As a user and a money is linked by public key cryptography anonymously privacies of user are protected.