Centralisation is the reason all the Bitcoin precursors ultimately failed. They worked technically, most of them had proof of concepts, but there was always a pressure point that could be taken out to end the project.
Discussion
Yeh, I hadn't appreciated how core the drive for decentralisation was, unless Adam is nursing history, which I don't think he is.
My understanding from listening to David Chaum and his critics (co-founders) is that DigiCash failed because he cared more about the principles than the success of DigiCash.
At peak it was even adopted by MicroSoft and a bank, but it was his stubbornness about technical issues that caused it to fail. I've heard him acknowledge that himself.
DigiCash had a few big banks but not yet Microsoft and yes it was partially Chaum who led it to failure.
Ok book on the precursor technology side is this one: https://thegenesisbook.com
Good for an overview and timeline but you’ll want to dig into the projects individually more. Lots lost to dead links now unfortunately
Thanks 🙏