Chaum published the idea of anonymous electronic money in a 1983 paper; eCash software on the user's local computer stored money in a digital format, cryptographically signed by a bank
Octopus cards had already been introduced in Hong Kong, and I think similar cards had been trialled elsewhere, so it might be that sort of thing they’re thinking of?
Comments
What was electronic cash referring to in 1998?
Could be one of these:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondex
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecash
For example, the proton stored-value debit card, launched in 1995 in Belgium https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton_(debit_card) or Danmønt, from 1992 in Denmark which was compatible with the domestic Dankort debit card. VISA cash was theoretically available in 1995, and heavily java based according to https://web.archive.org/web/20211222162640/https://www.it.uc...
I remember using the Swedish implementation of Proton[0] to buy a coffee and bun at our high school's cafe and thinking it was so cool
[0] https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cash_(betalsystem)
Octopus cards had already been introduced in Hong Kong, and I think similar cards had been trialled elsewhere, so it might be that sort of thing they’re thinking of?
e.g.
https://sv-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/Cash_(betalsyst...
Does it run JavaCard as nearly all debit/credit cards?