Before bitcoin, could people buy things with online digital money, unlike cash?

"In the first protocol in the essay, the use of a proof of work function is recommended as a means of creating money."

"In B-Money, money is transferred by broadcasting the transaction to all participants, all of whom keep accounts of all others. Contracts can be made with possible reparation in case of default, with a third party agreeing to be the arbitrator."

"[59] A.Back,“Hashcash-adenialofservicecounter-measure,”2002."

"The US government took notice. After a lengthy court case, a court ruled e-gold guilty of money laundering and retroactive violations of money transmitter laws. The founder was found criminally liable, and in 2008, all e-gold balances were frozen."

"The cypherpunks saw this failure and realized that Chaumian eCash had another weakness that had previously gone underappreciated: it relied on a single company. If digital cash were to flourish, it would have to grow beyond dependence on any central party."

"In 1998, Dai helped to spark interest in cryptocurrencies with the publication of "b-money, an anonymous, distributed electronic cash system". In the paper, Dai outlines the basic properties of his proposed system: "...a scheme for a group of untraceable digital pseudonyms to pay each other with money and to enforce contracts amongst themselves without outside help"."

"Exchange of funds is accomplished by collective bookkeeping and authenticated with digital signatures."

"Creating money requires a specified amount of computational work (aka Proof of work). The work done is verified by participants who update separate account records."

"Contracts provide for collateral and an agreed arbitrator; parties broadcast their digital signatures based on public key cryptography."

"Flooz.com was a dot-com venture, now defunct, based in New York City that went online in February 1999."

"Q币可以购买腾讯公司提供的网络虚拟商品，或者 增值服务 。"

"beenz.com was a website [ 1 ] that allowed consumers to earn beenz, a type of online currency , for performing activities such as visiting a web site, shopping online , or logging on through an Internet service provider . The beenz e-currency could then be spent with participating online merchants."

"The InternetCash e-currency could then be spent with participating online merchants."

"Users accumulated flooz credits either as a promotional bonus given away by some internet businesses or purchased directly from flooz.com which then could be redeemed for merchandise at a variety of participating online stores."

"但通过 财付通 充值是95折，通过其他代理商购买则可能更低。"

"Consumers were then able to use their beenz to purchase goods from online merchants. Each merchant was free to exchange beenz at any notional value they liked, the company assuming that the market would settle the exchange value of each beenz."

"The cash consisted of an InternetCash number together with a customer-selected PIN."

"the company attempted to establish a currency unique to Internet merchants, somewhat similar in concept to airline frequent flyer programs or grocery store stamp books."

"QQ游戏中可以利用Q币作为交易货币进行类似 赌博 的游戏活动。"

"Merchants were then able to sell beenz back to the company itself at a predefined exchange rate. The company made its margin on the spread between the sell and the buy price of beenz in the market."

"Therefore, InternetCash required merchants to redirect the customer to a new web page, which was operated by InternetCash and was called the "InternetCash payment window", where they would type in their card number and PIN."

"Adoption of flooz by both merchants and customers proved limited, and it never established itself as a widely recognized medium of exchange , which hindered both its usefulness and appeal."

"2007年3月，中國政府14個部委下文严禁倒卖虚拟货币后，腾讯公司关闭了这个兑换。"

"Companies purchased beenz from the company at a locally determined exchange rate. They could then award these to consumers for actions to which the issuer attached value, such as making online purchases."

"The card numbers themselves included a digital signature based on keyed hash functions , thus preventing third parties from randomly generating a card number—a form of security not present in typical credit or debit card numbers."

"Upon the company's closing, all unused flooz credits became worthless and nonrefundable."

"Q币可以通过 固定电话 进行购买，其费用计入固定电话费，因此出现了多起利用他人电话非法购买大量Q币的事件，且多为 未成年人 。"

"InternetCash card generation used secret sharing techniques, requiring a quorum of authorized company Officers present when the cash was minted."

"虚拟货币通常用于用户购买网络上的虚拟服务，例如腾讯公司Q币的 QQ 会员功能、網路遊戲的裝備等。"

"雙向兌換，有買入價和賣出價，跟「真」貨幣相同，包括由發行機構發行的，如 第二人生 的林登幣"