Özgür KesimMar 3

This is quite interesting: The German government is asked to provide a statement about #Taler, its potential to become a digital payment system for the digital Euro!

The left opposition in the German parliament ("Die Linke") has made a minor interpellation (Kleine Anfrage) in the aftermath of the de-banking of mostly left-leaning NGO's, asking the German government if and how it will help end over-compliance of banks and, this is interesting, the future of a digital Euro.
(https://dserver.bundestag.de/btd/21/041/2104184.pdf)

See question 22, which is about #GNUTaler (translated by GT, slightly edited):

Has the Federal Government evaluated the possibility of proposing the GNU Taler as a technical basis for central bank money, or does it plan to do so? If not, why not?

a) What significance does the Federal Government generally attribute to open-source software with regard to digital payment systems, particularly with regard to the greatest possible digital independence?

b) Which payment systems are known to the Federal Government that, on the one hand, ensure anonymity for buyers comparable to cash, while simultaneously disincentivise money laundering and tax evasion by identifying the payment recipients, and would the GNU Taler, in the Federal Government's opinion, be a suitable payment system according to this criterion?

I'm very happy about #Taler being brought up at the governmental level. Let' see what their answer will be.

Show threadWuMing2
@oec since it’s still very niche, there’s a directory of exchanges and businesses ready for transactions with #GNUTaler ?
Mar 7 at 2:34amWeb
Show threadÖzgür KesimMar 7
@WuMing2
For the Swiss deployment for #Taler there is a rudimentary and incomplete map available, which will be refined and extended over time: https://map.taler-ops.ch
Taler Operations: Fees

Fees collected by Taler Operations AG.

Show threadWuMing2Mar 7

@oec thanks. I also found a new tag initiative for #OpenStreetMap . With just one POI tagged for now.

https://ich.taler.net/t/about-the-openstreetmap-taler-integration/463

About the OpenStreetMap Taler integration

Purpose of this Integration is to centralize initiatives around OpenStreetMap integration and foster physical places offering GNU Taler as payment. (work in progress) on OSM, the tag payment:gnu_taler has been initiated and usage can be followed here ▶ original instructions

TALER ICH
Show threadWuMing2Mar 8
@oec I understand self hosting is an option. But then it is actually possible to integrate with banks? That one being far from a free for all market.
Show threadÖzgür KesimMar 8

@WuMing2
I don't know what you mean by "self hosting" (of what?), "integration with banks" and "free for all market" - maybe there is a misunderstanding of what #Taler is?

It is a collection of protocols for three parties: the customer/wallet, the exchange (payment service provider) and the merchant. It consists of all steps necessary for digital payments: initial funding, coin withdrawal, anonymous coin spending, coin deposit, refresh/getting change. The funding and the deposit steps both involve regular wire-transfers from/to bank accounts of the customer/merchant, respectively.

The software implementation #GNUTaler is free software, and anybody can download, alter and run it - all parts of it. The wallet is clearly self-hosted by the user; a merchant can host the Taler-merchant-backend component themself - or use the service provided by somebody who runs it for multiple merchants (taler-ops.ch f.e.).

The exchange component is a different story, though:
For event or local currencies (not fiat currencies), under certain rules depending on your local jurisdiction, you may be allowed to run an exchange legally for that (fake) currency, f.e. for an event or a local community. This would be "self-hosting" the exchange.

What you can not do legally, without having the necessary license, is "self-hosting" an exchange for, say, the Euro (€). This requires an e-money issuer license, that only some banks and some fintech companies have. This is why the GLS bank (Germany) and the Magnet bank (Hungary) are members in the #NGITaler consortium - to legally host the Taler exchanges for the Euro (in Germany) and the Forint (in Hungary).

Other jurisdictions have less tighter regulations, f.e. Swiss law allows to operate as e-money issuer for Swiss francs as long as the total sum in the system is below a threshold (and one is compliant with Anti-Money-Laundering (AML) requirements).

Did I address your question?

Show threadWuMing2Mar 8
@oec it does indeed answer my question. Also clarifies some misunderstandings of mine. Thank you.