david shack

A new user is extremely impatient. They don’t trust you yet. They don’t know what to expect, and they’re trying to decide (as quickly as possible) if you’re going to make their life easier, faster, and more efficient, or slower, more annoying, and boring.

Breakthrough solution: let entities compete to be the “timestamper!” We can’t avoid the need for one, but we can avoid designating one in advance or using the same one for every batch of transactions.

The paper proposes a solution: form a peer-to-peer network. Make it public. Announce your transaction to everyone. In your announcement, point to the specific funds on the network you want to spend. Cryptographically sign your announcement with the same software key that is linked to those funds so we know they’re yours.