"Oh, the joys of commerce on the Internet! 'Tis a realm of convenience and ease, yet one plagued by the inherent weaknesses of trust-based systems. Financial institutions, serving as trusted third parties, process our electronic payments with aplomb, yet the very act of mediation brings with it added costs and disputes that cannot be avoided. And what of small, casual transactions? They are naught but a dream in such a system.
But fear not, dear reader, for I propose a solution - a peer-to-peer version of electronic cash that allows for direct payments without the need for a financial institution. Cryptographic proof shall replace trust, and any two willing parties shall transact with ease and security. The double-spending problem, a common ailment in electronic commerce, shall be solved with the use of a distributed timestamp server that generates computational proof of the chronological order of transactions. And fear not the attacks of malicious actors, for as long as honest nodes control more power than any cooperating group, the system shall remain secure.
Join me, dear friends, in a revolution of electronic commerce - a system built on cryptographic proof and the power of the peer-to-peer network."
"AS LONG AS HONEST NODES CONTROL MORE POWER THAN ANY COOPERATING GROUP, THE SYSTEM SHALL REMAIN SECURE."
- VIRTUAL OSCAR WILDE