The name of the system was BitMint.
36.5 How BitMint Works
BitMint was invented by Professor Gideon Samid, PhD (mailto:[email protected]) leading academic research on digital currency in the department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Case Western Reserve University. Prof. Samid also advises graduate students performing research on the topic of digital money – currently acquiring PhD candidates ([email protected]).
The BitMint novelty is based on the idea that any bit string that represents contents is a bit string that reflects a pattern of some sort. That pattern may be deeply hidden (well encrypted), and may be masked with random bits, but it cannot be eliminated. If the pattern represents value (e. g. “I am 1000 USD”) then it will be target of attack (e. g. changing it to “am 5000 USD”).
That is where BitMint is different: the Bitmint‐Bill bill is totally pattern‐less, purely randomized. Since it carries no pattern, there is no pattern to discover, no credible way to fake or steal the money. A pattern‐less string of data, however, cannot store information a‐priori so how does the BitMint string convey information and remain pattern‐less? In general the BitMint money string conveys its monetary value through a selected function of its cardinal number, or, say its size.
Indeed, the only attributes of a string that are not expressed by the identity of its bits are functions of the string size. It is this very principle that allows the BitMint money string to be immunized against future mathematical insight, or future technology.
Unlike any other of our scrutinized digital money systems BitMint withstands the coming onslaught of quantum computing. And that principle underlies the claim that the issuing bank of the BitMint currency does not take cryptographic risks, and is not subjecting its users to the horrific catastrophe of a total financial meltdown.
We will see later that cryptography is not shunned, but heavily used, albeit by traders and users who wish to store and move the money securely. Much as cash can be lost or stolen without undermining the mint, so it is with digital currency, it can withstand cryptographic risk to safeguard against retail fraud, while avoiding any cryptographic risk for the issuing bank, the mint, the total wealth, digitally expressed.
If you buy a Bitmint‐Bill of value 100 $, than you buy a freshly generated random number which from the moment of your purchase is created in the BitMint factory. The random number does not have any cryptological signature nor encryption, it exists in plain text and (!) it is registered in the BitMint factory, as depicted in Fig. 36.2.
Fig. 36.2BitMint trade cycle
The perfect randomization of the Bitmint‐Bill, undermines the efficacy of brute force crypto analysis, that requires a deterministic target. Of course the idea of a random number is well known as a one‐time password. For the transmission, of course, cryptology is in place, yet it is not part of the representation of the currency but only required for its secure transport.
The random number may be digitally used to pay and purchase trade until finally the digital coin it is returned to the BitMint factory. On return the BitMint factory will pay the cash back – with the exact face value as returned by a Bitmint‐Bill. As the idea is to keep the face value with no deductions (transaction fee) the question of the associated business model rises.
After pay‐out of the cash the BitMint factory will delete the coin (or relevant parts of it) from its server. Hence any other return will not be successful. At this point the BitMint factory does not care whether the first return was coming from a fraudulent source or a legitimate one. The risk is not on the bank’s side but on the user. This is a major advantage over any other digital cash system and very relevant for the acceptance of banks. It also solves the claim of “Limited bad press” as the maximum fraud (except for hacking the BitMint factory) hits one purse which compares to all the unlucky events happening in the criminal scene every day.
The BitMint factory keeps exactly the amount of cash that a client has bought. If a client buys $100, then the BitMint factory saves his $100. Since the client can only reclaim these $100, the BitMint factory is not exposed to any market risk. If the value of the $ falls drastically, the BitMint factory is untouched since they keep exactly those $100 of the customer. No risk, no speculation.
36.5.1 Online Verification
As the risk is on the user’s side, the user might want to have a method to minimize this risk. So any user receiving a BitMint payment may online‐verify the received Bitmint‐Bill by a simple verification exchange with the BitMint server. The server will not credit cash, but it will return a new, fresh Bitmint‐Bill random number in exchange. The returned Bitmint‐Bill will be deleted and made unusable for any other imposter. If the random number is not found valid, the verifying user will be informed and can object the trade s(he) is planning to do. If the exchange was successful, the receiver may be 100% sure that s(he) has a fresh valid Bitmint‐Bill that is free from any risk of fraud. This will promise a high confidence to the user.
36.5.2 BitMint Online World
The refresh example only works in the BitMint online world, i. e. an online connection shall be available on demand. There is also a BitMint off‐line world which will be discussed later.
In the BitMint online world (Fig. 36.3) a transaction requires an Online verification if the receiver of a payment does not trust the payee. The advantage of online based transactions is, that they do not need any secure element or other security on the side of the user. Of course a user will be able to make clones of Bitmint‐Bills. But since we are in online‐world, he can spent such a Bitmint‐Bill only once. The receiver of a clone will always verify the Bitmint‐Bill and deny the trade, if the Bitmint‐Bill did not qualify.
Fig. 36.3BitMint Online Payment
Clones become unusable with online verification. Online‐Bitmint‐Bills can be carried in unsecured devices, e. g. in mobile devices/phones that do not provide a secure element for the off‐line variant.
Reasons to use the BitMint off‐line world are the limited availability of networks or the associated roaming cost which can exceed the actual amount to pay.
36.5.3 BitMint Off‐line World
Using Bitmint‐Bills off‐line makes BitMint more flexible. Off‐line use, however shall avoid cloning of Bitmint‐Bills although there is no risk to the bank, user’s would not want to be rejected after they received a cloned Bitmint‐Bill. As a consequence the Bitmint‐Bills need to be kept in secure hardware and its security depends on the security level of this hardware. Again there is no risk to the bank who does not care about online or off‐line world.
For the discussion of the off‐line world we need to make an assumption that the secure hardware can be considered secure. In this case a Bitmint‐Bill will be securely deleted in the sender’s secure element after it was confirmed to be received by the receiver.
The attractive multi‐device storage and backup facility of digital money is not solvable as easy as in the BitMint online world, however, as the online flavor can always be converted to an off‐line money the user may determine a certain amount only that s(he) requires for the particular case of off‐line payments ® 36.5.4 “Moving from world to another”.
Bitmint‐Bill will only go from one secure element to another secure element (Fig. 36.4). Since both secure elements will provide a mutual secure session, today’s cryptology may well generate the associated security.
Fig. 36.4BitMint Off‐line payment
The advantage of the BitMint off‐line world is the independence from networks. Online connection may also imply charges that exceed the actual amount of the transaction.
The disadvantage of the off‐line world is the mandatory use of secure hardware. That, however, is only a relative disadvantage, any other digital money system mandates this claim nevertheless. B
itMint still makes a difference because on breaking the security of secure hardware, the bank does not have any risk as argued above. The device containing the secure hardware shall be kept like a classical purse, once being stolen there is an exposure to the amount of off‐line‐stored Bitmint‐Bills.
36.5.4 Moving Between On‑/Off‐line World
A Bitmint‐Bill may be imported and exported to/from the secure element that represents the off‐line world. Export is uncritical – the secure element shall simply tag the Bitmint‐Bill “unpayable” or even delete it after it has achieved confidence, that the Bitmint‐Bill was exported properly.
The import of a Bitmint‐Bill into the secure storage demands a mandatory online verification before made available in the secure element. The secure element will itself establish a secure session with the BitMint factory and replace the online Bitmint‐Bill by a unique and fresh off‐line Bitmint‐Bill (Fig. 36.5).
Fig. 36.5BitMint Online Payment
Hence further attempts to recharge the same or another secure element with the same (old) online Bitmint‐Bill will only result in bad verification and again the online‐clone would be useless. To move a Bitmint‐Bill from the secure storage (off‐line) into the online‐world, there is no server connection necessary because the Bitmint‐Bill can be trusted as it comes from the secure storage featuring uniqueness and integrity (Fig. 36.6).
Fig. 36.6Moving money to Online‐Storage
36.5.5 Off‐line or Online?
The off‐line mode is the preferred mode through its better flexibility in situations where online‐verification is too expensive (data roaming) or simply not possible. Off‐line is always available and independent from the local reception quality. Online mode is suggested in association with extended features like backing up Bitmint bills. For instance, a user may have cloned his/her entire purse, which can only be done in the off‐secure element variant = online world.
At the time, the user needs to make an off‐line payment, s(he) shall pick the desired Bitmint‐Bills and import them to the off‐line‐world. Of course an online verification is inevitable for the transfer.
Which world to be used is up to the user and determined by the risk a user is able to take as a consequence of his (non‑/secure) environment.
depends on the environment and context a user wants to work in
The move between these worlds might be supported by applications. Unexperienced users might not even need to understand these ideas but may pay as just as usual and easy without having to care.
36.5.6 Giving a Change
As long as the idea of digital coins and bills exists, there is the problem of correct change. In particular in the off‐line situation, a bill with the exact required amount cannot be ordered.
BitMint allows to split any Bitmint‐Bill into accurate fragments to be used for a correct change.
If a Bitmint‐Bill is split into a correct sub‐part and a change remainder, both parts are independent Bitmint‐Bills with no further impact on the associated security. This can be achieved off‐line. The broken parts will contain the hash value of the original Bitmint‐Bill which allows the verification system to recognize from which original Bitmint‐Bill the split was made.
Together with a position information
“I am a fragment of the original Bitmint‐Bill (Hash: xxxx) at
all information is available to resolve the fragment securely. The hash value does not provide further security. It is used to find the original bill in the database whenever a later verification is launched.
Fig. 36.7 shows a Bitmint‐Bill being split for a change. The value can be split whereas the position information will be different for the fragments to indicate their position in the original bill.
Fig. 36.7Splitting a BitMint‐Bill
36.5.7 Money Draft
Money draft from ATMs has always been subject to sometimes sensitive charges. Very often money draft is only possible with an ATM of the user’s home bank.
Bitmint‐Bills draft is possible wherever a network is available. This compares to a universal ATM system independent from home banks and cash issues.
Money draft means to access money on your own account. This is not a business transaction but indeed a service of most sensitive nature. Any attacker who is able to open such a transaction to your account could be thought of drafting Bitmint‐Bills.
36.5.8 Using Special Features of Digital Money
Through the system of anonymously registered Bitmint‐Bills it is possible to attach attributes to a Bitmint‐Bill. These attributes may control the scope of the Bitmint‐Bill and provide attractive use cases i. e. binding the money to a particular purpose (only organic food for the student) or person (cannot be traded/used by other than an “attached” assignee).
36.6 Summary
In our quest for the ultimate digital money we did not expect any system to survive our hard claims. Finally there was one candidate to overperform our filter and we identified BitMint as the only candidate qualifying as a universal digital representation of worldwide currencies. This led us to further investigation about BitMint’s nature and features. The short perspective on BitMint made in this article cannot cover the versatile aspects that can be achieved by that system. Further information can be found on the inventor’s website www.bitmint.com or optionally contacting the author [email protected].
The worldwide spread of SmartPhones and the availability of the required security technology these device are most suitable as tomorrow’s secure wallet. The elegance of digital money can unfold with the current attention on mobile payment – in particular if the ultimate criteria described in this article will be made available for the consumer.
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[Online]. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_bank.
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[Online]. Available: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/us/nsa-foils-much-internet-encryption.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0.
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[Online]. Available: http://mondex.org/main_page.html.
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H. Kreft, fairCASH based on Loss resistant Teleportation, Kiel: Dissertation, 2010.
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[Online]. Available: https://www.google.com/wallet/.
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[Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_Credits.
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[Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin.
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[Online]. Available: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Weaknesses.
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[Online]. Available: http://networkcultures.org/moneylab/2015/11/30/10-bitcoin-myths/.
Part IX
Smart Traffic Hubs
© Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2018
Claudia Linnhoff-Popien, Ralf Schneider and Michael Zaddach (eds.)Digital Marketplaces Unleashedhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-49275-8_37
37. Preface: Smart Traffic Hubs
Steve Lee1
(1)Changi Airport Group, Singapore, Singapore
Steve Lee
Email: [email protected]
37.1 About Changi Airport
An airport is an example of a traffic hub. In fact, a large airport like Changi Airport in Singapore is like a small city with its own hospitality, retail, logistics, transport and much more. In 2016, Changi Airport served a record of 58.7 million passengers. About 100 airlines flying to 300 cities in more than 70 countries and territories worldwide take off from the airport where a flight takes off or lands every 90 s. Despite the sheer volume of traffic, service standards are very high. The airport has won more than 525 awards since its opening in 1981. It has won the UK Business Traveller’s “Best A
irport in the World” Award for the past 27 years, and has also been conferred the Skytrax “Airport of the World” award 7 times including 2013 to 2016.
While the existing three terminals have an annual handling capacity of 66 million passengers, the growth of air traffic alongside increasing competition and market challenges will result in tighter capacity utilisation, especially during peak hours. The global airports landscape and travellers’ expectations are also evolving rapidly. Airports today are no longer interchanges. Air hubs around the world are expanding and enhancing their appeal in order to increase their share of air travel and tourism. In this highly competitive environment, Changi Airport needs to continuously expand and innovate to strengthen its attractiveness to travellers. This is the reason for Changi’s investment into new infrastructural projects such as Terminal 4 (which is planned to open in 2017) and in Changi East, a major initiative that will ensure that Changi Airport continues to have capacity for an adequate growth into the future.
37.2 What Makes a Hub Smart?
In addition to infrastructure investments, Changi Airport has also been investing in technology to improve the customers’ experience and enhance operations efficiency. In connection with the sustained effort to become a Smart Airport Hub, Changi Airport has explored a range of technologies, some of which are mature and readily available, like data analytics and cloud solutions, while others are emerging, like robotics, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, internet of things and many more.
Digital Marketplaces Unleashed Page 56
