DigiCash expands to U.S. to develop the electronic cash
Ray Van Eng (05/08/97)
DigiCash has just announced that its founder David Chaum is stepping down as president and CEO and let Michael Nash (formerly an executive with Amdahl Corp. and Visa International) to take over the post. Nash is being credited as someone who has concieved and developed the Visa Cash stored value cards. The company also said that it will move its headquarters from Amsterdam to Silicon Valley in the U.S. so as to make it easier to forge alliances with pioneering e-commerce vendors located there. And for the first time ever, DigiCash is bringing in funding from investors (mostly from the U.S.) which according to one source is somewhere between $5 to $10 million. Although DigiCash has so far been profitable, the company wants to break into the U.S. market and regain some ground lost to other high profile rivals such as Mondex, and CyberCash. DigiCash is the first micropayment system specially designed to be used for the Internet. Chaum will remain as the largest shareholder and chief technology officer of the company. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The Philippines will become the second region in Asia (after Hong Kong) to test the Mondex stored value cards. After an initial pilot with the employees of the Bank of the Philippine Islands, a public trial will begin next year using the Express Teller debit cards to host the Mondex electronic cash application which can store up to five International currencies at any one time. The Hongkong Shanghai Banking Corp. (HSBC) who owns the Mondex franchise in the Phillipines will issue the Mondex cards. With Mastercard International as a managing partner, HSBC will expand the Mondex system into a dozen other regions in Asia. |
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