(1) See digital coins.

(2) (eCash) An earlier Web payment service developed in the 1990s by Amsterdam-based DigiCash, Inc. It used a blind signature encryption method and required an active account from an eCash member bank. Digital coins were stored in the eCash Purse digital wallet on the customer's computer, and coins were deducted from the wallet when a purchase was made at eCash-compliant sites. The system was regulated by adding a serial number to each coin. When the merchant received the coins, they were sent to the customer's bank for verification. If a coin matched the serial number of a coin that had already been spent, fraudulent activity was detected.

Despite this innovative system, not enough banks participated for its success, and in 1999, eCash Technologies, Inc. acquired DigiCash. In turn, eCash was bought in 2002 by InfoSpace, Inc., Bellevue, WA and absorbed into its payment solutions unit. See Web payment service.