I'm surprised the following wasn't touched upon:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Orlin_GrabbeThe End of Ordinary Money
In 1995, Grabbe moved to Reno, Nevada. In May of that year, he published the second part of a two-part essay, "The End of Ordinary Money" on the Internet. The first part of this essay had been written in 1987. In July 1995, the article was printed in Liberty magazine. With the publication of a second article, "Digital Cash and the Future of Money", Orlin Grabbe had established a path towards Digital Finance.
Excellent thesis, BTW!