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The exchange would be operated by a bank or in cooperation with a bank, and that bank would hold the funds in escrow. Note that this bank could be a regular bank or a central bank for a centrally banked electronic currency. Regardless, the bank would fall under the respective banking regulations establishing a reason why consumers would have faith in the conversion from Taler coins into regular bank money.
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This project is about improving the security of the GNU Taler exchange via an external code audit, and creating a competent external security auditor to help with safely operating the Taler payment system.
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We are grateful for free hosting offered by the following organizations:
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We are grateful for translation support offered by the following organizations (and <a href="https://weblate.taler.net/stats/">all the volunteers</a> that are helping with the translation effort):
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Past funding
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We are grateful for past funding from the following organizations:
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This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the NGI_TRUST grant agreement no 825618. The project aims to integrate re:claimID with the GNU Taler payment system in a pilot in order to demonstrate the practical feasibility and benefits of privacy enhancing technologies for users and commercial service providers. The project is called "Decentralized Identities for Self-Sovereign End-users" (DISSENS).
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Advantages for Governments
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Taler provides accountability to ensure business operate legally, while also respecting civil liberties of citizens. Taler is a payment system based on open standards and free software. Taler needs governments as they set a financial framework and act as trusted regulators. Taler contributes to digital sovereignty in the critical financial infrastructure.
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Taler was built with the goal of fighting corruption and supporting taxation. With Taler, the receiver of any form of payment is easily identified by the government, and the merchant can be compelled to provide the contract that was accepted by the customer. Governments can use this data to tax businesses and individuals based on their income, making tax evasion and black markets less viable.
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Thus, despite offering anonymity for citizens spending digital cash to buy goods and services, Taler also ensures that the state can observe incoming funds. This can be used to ensure businesses engage only in legal activities, and do not evade income tax, sales tax or value-added tax. However, this observational capability does not extend to the immediate personal domain. In particular, monitoring does not cover shared access to funds with trusted friends and family, or synchronizing wallets across multiple devices.
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Taler's payments are cryptographically secured. Thus, customers, merchants and the Taler payment service provider (the exchange) can mathematically demonstrate their lawful behavior in court in case of disputes. Financial damages are strictly limited, improving economic security for individuals, merchants, the exchange and the state.
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As a payment service provider, the Taler exchange is subject to financial regulation. Financial regulation and regular audits are critical to establish trust. In particular, the Taler design mandates the existence of an independent auditor who checks cryptographic proofs that accumulate at the exchange to ensure that the escrow account is managed honestly. This ensures that the exchange does not threaten the economy due to fraud.
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Taler is free software implementing an open protocol standard. Thus, Taler will enable competition and avoid the monopolization of payment systems that threatens global political and financial stability today.
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Efficient
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Taler has an efficient design. Unlike Blockchain-based payment systems, such as Bitcoin, Taler will not threaten the availability of national electric grids or (significantly) contribute to environmental pollution.
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Taler and regulation
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Anti money laundering (AML)
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With Taler, income is visible and can be tied to the contract signed by both parties.
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Know your customer (KYC)
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