Methods and Systems for Creating and Using Massless Currency

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer-readable storage mediums are described for effecting practical use of a dual currency which is a currency that can be electronically created and stored, and further for which there is a secret key (e.g., the secret key of a public key/secret key pair as used in public key cryptography) such that: an entity that does not possess the secret key cannot, in practice, create notes of the currency; and an entity that does possess the secret key can, in practice, create notes of the currency without assistance from entities that do not possess the secret key.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A machine-implemented process for creating a dual currency note, said process comprising:
 machine-generating, on a configured computing device, a data string defining a note content of a dual currency;   machine-encrypting, on a configured computing device with access to a secret key of a cryptosystem, at least a portion of the data string with the secret key to generate the dual currency note; and   machine-outputting the generated dual currency note to a memory or to a communication device.