Introducing WingCash, think Dwolla + Facebook, the anti-anonymous e-currency

[Stephen Gornick]

Yet another Person To Person payments system has emerged: WingCash
  http://wingcash.com



If Bitcoin is described as a decentralized, anonymous digital currency then WingCash is the polar opposite -- a centralized, fully public, representative currency.

How WingCash works:

• WingCash "Notes" are issued in denominations matching physical U.S. coins ($0.01, $0.05, $0.10 and $0.25) and U.S. currency ($1, $5, $10, $20 and $100).
• Each note is serialized, and can be viewed online.  The entire history of the note (the current owner and at least the last eight recent owners) is visible, publicly.
  Example: https://wingcash.com/usd/w002-53bd-a7ef-f3d5
  When viewed online, the image presented on the note matches the denomination of its physical U.S. equivalent.  For example, the $0.10 Note will show the image of a U.S. dime, and the $50 Note will show the image of a U.S. $50 bill.
• The owner of the note holds the cash online in a centralized ewallet account through WingCash.com.  The notes are backed with cash in a cash account held by the note's issuer -- either Wingcash or a bank partner (I presume this is in cash accounts that are fully FDIC insured funds, similar to how PayPal handles accountholder balances).
• Transactions are irrevocable, which means there are no chargebacks if a transaction sours.
• Selling WingCash (withdrawing funds / cashing out): Notes may be transferred at face value to your U.S. checking or savings account (via ACH).  WingCash charges $0.25 per withdrawal.  A merchant who accepts WingCash may also cash out your notes at face value without the fee.
• Buying WingCash (adding funds): Notes may purchased only from participating retailers or by exchanging with an individual.
• There are no transaction fees when using WingCash notes as payment with a merchant or between individuals.
• Currently, registration for individuals is allowed only for certain states.  The three states, Montana, New Mexico and South Carolina are states in which WingCash can likely operate without registering as a money transmitter.  Dwolla followed a similar approach before going national last year.  Merchants from any state may register now.
• Money may be sent to users on the social networks Twitter and Facebook.  If the recipient has already linked the social network account to WingCash, notes are transferred to the recipient's ewallet immediately.  Otherwise, the notes are claimed only after the recipient logs in and links (via OAUTH) the account.  There also is the ability to make transfers via email and LinkedIn but it isn't immediate.

It offers merchants the holy grail of irrevocable payment. This proposition is so compelling that merchants may actively seek to promote it as an alternative to most other forms of payment.

WingCash appears to be scalable and sustainable because they have eliminated the complexity and cost of charge-backs,

The CEO also founded ProPay, which is one of the few payment alternatives to PayPal on eBay.

Bradley Wilkes is part of a payment technology family dynasty. The Wilkes clan has been embedded deeply in the fabric of the payments industry since the nineties. Clay Wilkes is CEO of Galileo Payment Processing, a well known leader in processing General Purpose Reloadable (GPR) prepaid payment cards such as those offered by NetSpend and Greendot (GDOT). Dave Wilkes is Founder and CEO of Fuze Networks. These gentlemen are all veterans of our industry. I think payment technology is part of their DNA.

http://www.glgroup.com/News/2011-Startup-WingCash-%E2%80%93-The-Next-Generation-of-Money--52047.html

Blog: http://blog.wingcash.com
FAQ: https://wingcash.com/faq

WingCash adds to the crowded Person to Person payment networks, which include Paypal (credit and ACH), Dwolla (ACH), PopMoney (ACH), and a plethora of mobile money startups.

Incidentally, WingCash is not to be confused with the mobile cash system used in Cambodia called WING Cash Xpress:
  http://www.wingmoney.com

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[Stephen Gornick]

Comments from the #bitcoin-otc peanut gallery:

- "It's like having a camera in your wallet"  

- "sounds like 'where's george' on crack"

- It's worse than real money, because you not only know previous owner, You know all of them"

Also, here are videos:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC80HIF474w
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2872iZOIgvk

[error]

Wow, all the disadvantages of cash and electronic payments with none of the advantages!

[Anonymous]

Notes" are issued in denominations matching physical U.S. coins ($0.01, $0.05, $0.10 and $0.25) and U.S. currency ($1, $5, $10, $20 and $100).

Wasnt that why they jailed the guys from the liberty dollar ?

http://www.numismaster.com/ta/numis/Article.jsp?ad=article&ArticleId=6781

Bernard von NotHaus and three others were indicted in early June in U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina alleging conspiracy to promote the use of their privately produced Liberty Dollars instead of Federal Reserve Notes.

They are charged with an "unlawful operation to publish, possess and sell for profit, coins in resemblance and similitude to U.S. coins" and "uttering and passing and attempting to utter and pass, a coin of silver in resemblance of genuine coins of the United States in the denominations of five dollars and greater and intended for use as current money."

Maybe you can do it if your ceo has dinner with Obama.

[genjix]

haha worst of both worlds, best of none.

[Vasiliev]

They even have "In God We Trust" on them?!

[Anonymous]

They even have "In God We Trust" on them?!

They even have pictures of dead presidents on them.

[satamusic]

do not want.

[da2ce7]

do not want.

I wonder what the WingCash vs. Bitcoin exchange rate will be.  lol

[Anonymous]

do not want.

I wonder what the WingCash vs. Bitcoin exchange rate will be.  lol

You could use them for advertising I suppose....

bitcoinuser just sent bitcoinuser2 wingcash.....

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

do not want.

+1

[FatherMcGruder]

Yay! Another way to exchange bitcoin into USD and vice versa.

That's what I think.

Also, an exchange would do well to piggyback off of its advertising.

[jav]

Interesting in many ways. In principle they are just a competitor to PayPal & Co., but try to obfuscate that with their image-of-a-real-bill gimmick to make it seem has it is somehow a new idea. And that might actually pay of - perception is everything. Competitive pricing helps as well: No transactions fees; only fees on withdraw and possible when buying WingCash. And ties to the social networks - a must have these days, isn't it? =)

They will have a rough start though, coming late to the game and now having to build a network of exchanges and getting businesses to accept it. We'll see if they can do that. Wouldn't be the worst thing if they succeeded, because WingCash to Bitcoin should be much easier to do, seeing as WingCash has no chargebacks. :-)

[foo]

They even have "In God We Trust" on them?!

[Bimmerhead]

Yay! Another way to exchange bitcoin into USD and vice versa.

That's what I think.

Also, an exchange would do well to piggyback off of its advertising.

Agreed.  All those Facebook wall posts will be great marketing.

Not only is this another way to get USD into bitcoin, it also looks like it will be the easiest, cheapest way for those of us in countries where we can't buy bitcoin by bank transfer.

[Stephen Gornick]

Notes" are issued in denominations matching physical U.S. coins ($0.01, $0.05, $0.10 and $0.25) and U.S. currency ($1, $5, $10, $20 and $100).

Wasnt that why they jailed the guys from the liberty dollar ?

Liberty coins were marked with the dollar sign ($); the words dollar, USA, Liberty, Trust in God (instead of In God We Trust); and other features associated with legitimate U.S. coinage.

 
  http://charlotte.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel11/ce031811.htm

I think the difference though is that WingCash is representative currency.  A $5 USD WingCash note really does represent $5 USD somewhere in a bank.

I'm a bit surprised WingCash puts on their note a photographic COPY of part of a Federal Reserve note though.  I could see some cashier somewhere getting persuaded to accept a printout of the following as a $5 bill.  It does say FIVE DOLLARS ($5 USD) and shows the Lincoln Memorial from a $5 Federal Reserve note:

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

I think the difference though is that WingCash is representative currency.  A $5 USD WingCash note really does represent $5 USD somewhere in a bank.

And the $5 in bank represents.... nothing .

[Anonymous]

Someone tell me what the difference is between this and the liberty dollar ?

 

[FatherMcGruder]

Someone tell me what the difference is between this and the liberty dollar ?

 

The liberty-dollar was a physical currency supposedly backed by precious metals, rather than a digital one backed by USD.

[row5_seat47]

Earlier this year a patent was granted for WingCash

Systems and methods for electronically circulating a currency
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=8630951&OS=8630951&RS=8630951

e.g.
https://wingcash.com/feWill/