&gt; As a result nothing he does has any impact for 20 years except to show people what will eventually be possible.7<p>20 years is not an exaggeration. For anyone curious, you can read a good overview of Chaums, and other related, work on anonymous cryptocurrency systems in a report[0] released by the NSA in 1996. When you actually grok what we&#x27;ve known has been possible for 25 years, Bitcoin looks like a naive toy made &#x27;successful&#x27; only by virtue of its lack of dependence on the banking system... which is its only real strength.<p>[0] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;groups.csail.mit.edu&#x2F;mac&#x2F;classes&#x2F;6.805&#x2F;articles&#x2F;money&#x2F;nsamint&#x2F;nsamint.htm" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;groups.csail.mit.edu&#x2F;mac&#x2F;classes&#x2F;6.805&#x2F;articles&#x2F;money...</a>