After six months of development, the GNU project has introduced a free electronic payment system, GNU Taler 1.1. The platform is considered ready for the implementation of operational payment services and can already be legally used for selling goods in Switzerland. Businesses that wish to set up sales payments using GNU Taler only need to have an account at any Swiss bank and launch the backend provided by the platform to facilitate sales.
The GNU Taler code is written in C and is distributed under the AGPLv3 and LGPLv3 licenses. It includes basic components that enable the operation of a bank, exchange points, a marketplace, a wallet, and an auditor. The system allows for the identification of sellers for tax reporting while ensuring anonymity for buyers. The development is funded by grants from the European Commission and the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation (SERI).
The GNU Taler payment system is not tied to its own cryptocurrency and works with existing currencies such as dollars, euros, and bitcoins. Support for new currencies is provided through a linkage to a bank that acts as a financial guarantor for the transactions made. The project promotes a business model based on exchange operations — money from traditional payment systems such as 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.
Transactions already made in GNU Taler maintain their integrity even if clients', vendors', and exchange points' private keys are leaked — the database format allows for verification of all completed transactions and confirmations of their consistency. The cryptographic proof of transfer within the contract with the client serves as the payment confirmation for the vendors, along with a cryptographically signed confirmation of the availability of funds at the exchange point. The system does not reveal how the client spends their money but allows tracking of funds arriving to the recipient, preserving the sender's anonymity. This approach addresses issues with tax audits typical of BitCoin.
To facilitate sales point operations, payment management, and order servicing, an application for the Android platform is provided, optimized for transactions with restaurant visitors. There is a plugin for integrating the launched payment service with the platform for creating online stores WooCommerce, as well as a plugin for the ticket sales platform Pretix.
In the new version:
- An option for self-provisioning of the merchant backend, enabling payment processing and order configuration at sales points, has been added.
- The merchant backend includes tools for managing access tokens.
- An extended new contract format (v1) has been implemented, allowing for various interaction options between vendors and wallets, including donations, service subscriptions, coupons, and currency exchange.
- Experimental support for accepting tokens that confirm subscription presence and provide discounts has been added.
- Two-factor authentication is supported when confirming password resets, when connecting to the vendor backend, and during payment information authentication using the libeufin-bank utility.
- Support for commission classes on cash withdrawal operations has been added.
- The iOS and Android applications now allow wallet unlocking using the device unlocking features provided by the platforms.
- Packages for Debian 13 have been created.
Source: opennet.ru
