After a year and a half of development, the GNU project has presented the release of the free electronic payment system GNU Taler 0.10, which provides anonymity for buyers while maintaining the ability to identify sellers to ensure transparency in tax reporting. The system does not allow tracking information about where the user spends their money but provides tools to monitor fund inflows (the sender remains anonymous), addressing the tax audit issues inherent to Bitcoin. The code is written in Python and is distributed under the AGPLv3 and LGPLv3 licenses.
GNU Taler does not create its own cryptocurrency but works with existing currencies, including dollars, euros, and bitcoins. Support for new currencies can be ensured by creating a bank that acts as a financial guarantor. The business model of GNU Taler is based on performing exchange transactions—money from traditional payment systems like Bitcoin, Mastercard, SEPA, Visa, ACH, and SWIFT is converted into anonymous electronic money in the same currency. Users can transfer electronic money to sellers, who can then exchange it back into real money at the exchange point, represented by traditional payment systems.
All transactions in GNU Taler are secured using modern cryptographic algorithms that ensure integrity even in the event of leakage of private keys belonging to clients, sellers, and exchange points. The database format allows for the verification of all transactions made and confirms their consistency. The confirmation of payment for sellers is a cryptographic proof of transfer within the contract concluded with the client, along with a cryptographically signed confirmation of available funds at the exchange point. GNU Taler comprises a set of basic components that provide functionality for operating the bank, exchange point, marketplace, wallet, and auditor.
Funding for development is provided by grants from the European Commission, the Swiss Federal Secretariat for Education, and the Swiss Federal Secretariat for Research and Innovation (SERI). As part of the NGI TALER project, work is underway to create a product based on GNU Taler ready for application in the European Union.
Key Changes:
- Support for key exchange using the EBICS 3.0 (Electronic Banking Internet Communication Standard) protocol has been added, designed for secure information exchange about payments between banks. A utility called libeufin-nexus has been proposed for sending requests to banks using the EBICS protocol.
- A more convenient interface for processing payments using QR codes has been proposed for shops, implemented through a publicly accessible GET request handler that uses templates.
- A wallet implementation for the iOS platform is available in the Apple app store.
- Wallets have improved management for connecting to exchange points.
- The Wallet-core has added the ability to generate monitoring events to simplify diagnostics.
- A new type of transaction representing funds lost due to denomination, withdrawal, or expiration of coins has been implemented for wallets.
- Cache request support and asynchronous key verification have been provided in the Wallet-core.
Source: opennet.ru
