Is It Practical to Build a Truly Distributed Payment System? - Keynote

Explore a thought-provoking keynote address delivered by Ross Anderson from the University of Cambridge at the 23rd ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS 2016). Delve into the practical challenges of building a truly distributed payment system, examining the evolution from centralized to decentralized financial technologies. Investigate the impact of mobile money revolution and its achievements, while considering remaining obstacles. Learn about the DigiTally project, an innovative approach to digital payments, and understand its implementation, including protocol design and field trials. Gain insights from real-world applications in various settings, from bookshops to rural areas near Lake Victoria. Discover the broader implications of such tools for financial inclusion and technological advancement in developing regions. Analyze the deeper lessons learned from this groundbreaking research, offering valuable perspectives on the future of distributed payment systems.

Intro
Centralised or distributed payment?
Centralisation and tech
Prepayment meters
The mobile money revolution
Mobile money achievements
What are the remaining challenges?
The DigiTally project
Overlay SIMS
Background: M-Pesa transaction
DigiTally payment, step 2
Under the hood - first protocol
First protocol - bugs
Further design constraints
Field trial
The students
The bookshop
The coffee shop
The cafeteria
Pre-market research
Busia, near Lake Victoria
Busia county office
What we found
The project so far
Why tools like this matter
Deeper lessons learned