Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TALER (Taxable Anonymous Libre Electronic Reserves)
Reporting period: 2023-12-01 to 2025-05-31
GNU Taler (Taxable Anonymous Libre Electronic Resources) is a new secure electronic payment system based on open standards, free software, and advanced cryptography. GNU Taler provides privacy guarantees to the buyer while offering the possibility to audit merchants, making sale incomes transparent and fraud difficult. To online merchants and retailers, GNU Taler offers instant transaction clearance without risks of fake payment methods. Computations needed to clear the payments are efficient and scalable so that banks can pass on lower transaction costs to consumers and merchants. Consumers can withdraw money from their existing bank account into their GNU Taler wallet, detaching their spending habits from scrutiny, in the way cash does.
The NGI TALER project is funded under Horizon Europe (Pilots for the Next Generation Internet) with the aim of bringing GNU Taler to market across Europe.
To make GNU Taler accessible to European citizens, we need a commercially viable use of the GNU Taler technology. We will achieve this through the four key project objectives.
Objective 1: Make GNU Taler legally available to users in the EU via retail banks
We will make GNU Taler available to the European public as a commercial payment system. This will create the globally first software-based payment solution that offers strict technical privacy assurances for buyers in e-commerce. Additionally, GNU Taler's design offers real-time external auditing of the payment service provider by independent third parties based on cryptographic signatures covering all processes in the entire payment system, thus creating a milestone in accountability.
Objective 2: Ensure GNU Taler is accepted as a payment solution by European retailers
We will provide merchants with an open payment standard with lower prices. End-consumers will enjoy improved shopping experience and preservation of personal data. Besides these two benefits, merchants can better protect their market expertise and shield it from potential competitors by avoiding competitor platforms which abuse their knowledge and/or data. We will integrate GNU Taler into the diverse work-flows of a multitude of businesses through open calls' integration and other interested parties.
Objective 3: Improve the technical maturity of the GNU Taler software
We will perform security reviews of key components of the GNU Taler system and then ensure that relevant components are available for Windows, MacOS and various GNU/Linux distributions. We will automate packaging for these platforms and port the WebExtension to additional browsers. We will furthermore implement various additional features that were already requested by community members (citizens or retailers). For example, a publisher wants to offer a discount on a subscription to readers that recently purchased individual articles.Part of this objective is to address such requests, including new ideas that are proposed during the project.
Objective 4: Raise the awareness for the project in the general public
With GNU Taler, citizens will experience a much higher online shopping convenience, especially for low-valued items like digital goods. To pay with GNU Taler, they will need no registration, no log-in, and no complicated multi-factor authentication over multiple devices just one simple click for the young and the old. Citizens will also experience improved privacy online. This may especially feel good while supporting (investigative) journalism. Less tracking for advertising, fewer account-based payments, less phishing, less identity theft all predicated on GNU Taler enabling micro-payments with better privacy will improve online security. We will explain these advantages to citizens, using various large-scale communication channels in existence.
The NGI TALER project is funded under Horizon Europe (Pilots for the Next Generation Internet) with the aim of bringing GNU Taler to market across Europe.
To make GNU Taler accessible to European citizens, we need a commercially viable use of the GNU Taler technology. We will achieve this through the four key project objectives.
Objective 1: Make GNU Taler legally available to users in the EU via retail banks
We will make GNU Taler available to the European public as a commercial payment system. This will create the globally first software-based payment solution that offers strict technical privacy assurances for buyers in e-commerce. Additionally, GNU Taler's design offers real-time external auditing of the payment service provider by independent third parties based on cryptographic signatures covering all processes in the entire payment system, thus creating a milestone in accountability.
Objective 2: Ensure GNU Taler is accepted as a payment solution by European retailers
We will provide merchants with an open payment standard with lower prices. End-consumers will enjoy improved shopping experience and preservation of personal data. Besides these two benefits, merchants can better protect their market expertise and shield it from potential competitors by avoiding competitor platforms which abuse their knowledge and/or data. We will integrate GNU Taler into the diverse work-flows of a multitude of businesses through open calls' integration and other interested parties.
Objective 3: Improve the technical maturity of the GNU Taler software
We will perform security reviews of key components of the GNU Taler system and then ensure that relevant components are available for Windows, MacOS and various GNU/Linux distributions. We will automate packaging for these platforms and port the WebExtension to additional browsers. We will furthermore implement various additional features that were already requested by community members (citizens or retailers). For example, a publisher wants to offer a discount on a subscription to readers that recently purchased individual articles.Part of this objective is to address such requests, including new ideas that are proposed during the project.
Objective 4: Raise the awareness for the project in the general public
With GNU Taler, citizens will experience a much higher online shopping convenience, especially for low-valued items like digital goods. To pay with GNU Taler, they will need no registration, no log-in, and no complicated multi-factor authentication over multiple devices just one simple click for the young and the old. Citizens will also experience improved privacy online. This may especially feel good while supporting (investigative) journalism. Less tracking for advertising, fewer account-based payments, less phishing, less identity theft all predicated on GNU Taler enabling micro-payments with better privacy will improve online security. We will explain these advantages to citizens, using various large-scale communication channels in existence.
In the first 18 months, TALER worked towards offering Taler payments for the Eurozone. This work consisted of analyzing the legal and regulatory frameworks under which the payment system can operate and adjusting the software and implementation environments to match. Additionally some new regulations needed to be taken into account, causing extra work. The main achievements are that the IT part of the system is now ready for launch and adheres to the latest regulations.
In parallel, efforts were spent on reaching out to the verticals, integrating the payment system in more environments, also through the Open Calls, evaluating the security of the design and implementation of important components, researching the cryptographic security of the system, and alerting the general public about the benefits offered by the Taler payment system.
In parallel, efforts were spent on reaching out to the verticals, integrating the payment system in more environments, also through the Open Calls, evaluating the security of the design and implementation of important components, researching the cryptographic security of the system, and alerting the general public about the benefits offered by the Taler payment system.
Existing commercial payment solutions do not offer privacy by design, cannot handle micro-transactions, but collect users’ private payment information and exploit it.
- GNU Taler provides a solution that protects the user’s/customer’s privacy while at the same time being society-friendly in preventing money laundering, tax evasion, black markets and illegal businesses.
- GNU Taler enables micro-payments, allowing it to be applied in machine-to-machine or IoT set-ups as well as in cybersecurity to provide new business models that were formerly impossible.
- GNU Taler puts the user firmly in control over his/her own data, no information is shared with the payment operator or the bank, unless the user agrees. Micro-transactions can also reward the user for his/her information or attention with actual e-cash.
- GNU Taler’s energy efficiency helps reduce greenhouse gas output significantly in comparison to any other payment system from blockchains to credit cards.
- GNU Taler can compete with US and Chinese proprietary solutions to retain EU-wide (supra-)national financial sovereignty and offers privacy by design
- GNU Taler offers the possibility to make transactions in real time. Unlike systems using a blockchain, it does not need to wait for the creation of a consensus.
- GNU Taler offers a privacy preserving mechanism of age verification that aligns with the principle of subsidiarity (parental control). The age-restriction is bound to individual digital coins, and the purchase of age-restricted goods and services does not require additional steps for age verification.
- GNU Taler provides a solution that protects the user’s/customer’s privacy while at the same time being society-friendly in preventing money laundering, tax evasion, black markets and illegal businesses.
- GNU Taler enables micro-payments, allowing it to be applied in machine-to-machine or IoT set-ups as well as in cybersecurity to provide new business models that were formerly impossible.
- GNU Taler puts the user firmly in control over his/her own data, no information is shared with the payment operator or the bank, unless the user agrees. Micro-transactions can also reward the user for his/her information or attention with actual e-cash.
- GNU Taler’s energy efficiency helps reduce greenhouse gas output significantly in comparison to any other payment system from blockchains to credit cards.
- GNU Taler can compete with US and Chinese proprietary solutions to retain EU-wide (supra-)national financial sovereignty and offers privacy by design
- GNU Taler offers the possibility to make transactions in real time. Unlike systems using a blockchain, it does not need to wait for the creation of a consensus.
- GNU Taler offers a privacy preserving mechanism of age verification that aligns with the principle of subsidiarity (parental control). The age-restriction is bound to individual digital coins, and the purchase of age-restricted goods and services does not require additional steps for age verification.