As information technologies expand, privacy becomes of greater concern. People are realizing that with every credit card transaction, corporate databases are becoming larger and larger. By using paper currency, people are able to exclude themselves from these databases. Therefore, for e-cash to be effective, it must maintain this privacy function.
DigiCash claims it has developed a system that provides privacy for the user without sacraficing security for the receiver. If a system is completely private, the merchant has no way of verifying the validity of the electronic money. The user would also be unable to have a receipt for the transaction. However, DigiCash utilizes a one-sided signiture. Basically, the user keeps record of payments made, but the merchant only receives enough information to allow his bank to verify the authenticity of the E-cash.
This signiture process is also suppose to deter the criminal element of cash transactions. Since a record of the transaction is created and kept (by the payee), extortion, bribes, or other illegal transactions should occur less frequently.