Cashu
Open-source Chaumian ecash protocol on Bitcoin: mints issue blind-signed bearer tokens redeemable in bitcoin over Lightning, making payments private by design — a mint cannot see who holds or spends its tokens and keeps no user accounts. Community-driven with open NUT specifications, multiple interoperable implementations (Python, TypeScript, Rust), wallets on every platform, and OpenSats-funded development; the custodial-mint trade-off is mitigated by running many small mints.
The leading open ecash protocol: bearer-instrument digital cash with cryptographic payment privacy, no identity requirement, and fully organic, grant-funded development — a live answer to the surveillance-money problem and a natural payment primitive for AI agents. Scored as monetary infrastructure: it makes no stability claim (SPS 1) and its custodial mints with unproven solvency are the structural weakness. Partially aligned overall, with best-in-class privacy and inclusivity.
M69 Score
Scored against the Money2069 Manifesto — see methodology. Higher = more aligned.
Detailed Rating Breakdown
Issuance Model3x4.0
Anyone can run a mint and anyone can mint by depositing — permissionless and rule-based (IM-01: 4); full-reserve bearer claims, no credit expansion (IM-02: 4); supply is fully demand-elastic in both directions via deposit and redemption (IM-04: 4, IM-05: 4); but backing is crypto-native only, no real-economy signal (IM-03: 2). Avg 3.6 → 4.
Spending Power Stability2x1.0
Cashu makes no stability claim: tokens are denominated in sats and float with bitcoin. No targeting mechanism (SPS-01: 1), no benchmark (SPS-02: 1), no track record against any target (SPS-04: 1); SPS-06 scores 1 by rubric when no stability mechanism exists. Scored honestly as infrastructure, not a stablecoin: 1.
Fiat Independence & Interoperability2x5.0
Bitcoin unit of account (FI-01: 5), non-fiat collateral (FI-02: 5), no banking rails — Lightning only (FI-03: 5), no oracles (FI-04: 5), structurally immune to fiat failure (FI-05: 5). Community mints give a real local-expression story (FI-07: 4) and the open NUT specs with multiple independent implementations are exactly an open interop standard (FI-08: 5). Weighted 4.8 → 5.
Traction2x3.0
Very active — Nutshell 0.20.0 shipped Q1 2026, ecosystem security audits underway, OpenSats funding (TR-01: 5, TR-06: 5, TR-10: 4); adoption entirely organic with no token or incentives (TR-09: 5); strong cypherpunk narrative (TR-11: 4). But the protocol is ~3.5 years old (TR-02: 3), user counts are unmeasurable by design and likely modest (TR-03: 2), merchant acceptance limited (TR-04: 2), and pricing stays fiat/sat-quoted (TR-05: 2). Weighted 3.0 → 3.
Sovereignty3.0
The protocol is unstoppable and fully self-hostable (SO-01: 4, SO-02: 5, SO-03: 5); blind signatures make targeted censorship of users cryptographically impossible (SO-07: 4) and privacy is best-in-class, shielded by default (SO-08: 5). The structural weakness: mints are custodians — users must trust the mint with funds (SO-04: 2) and mint solvency is not cryptographically enforced (SO-09: 2). Weighted 3.3 → 3.
Governance3.0
Open-source rough consensus around public NUT specifications (GO-01: 3, GO-03: 4); no token, capture resisted by forkability (GO-04: 4); but no constitution (GO-07: 2) and each mint's issuance/redemption conduct is ultimately operator discretion (GO-08: 2). Weighted 2.9 → 3.
Resilience3.0
Handled a coordinated 2026 vulnerability disclosure well (RE-01: 3); many mints and multiple implementations give redundancy (RE-02: 4); elegant, well-documented design (RE-04: 4) on the Bitcoin/Lightning stack (RE-05: 4); bearer tokens are async/offline-friendly (RE-08: 4) and ecash is a natural machine-payments primitive for AI agents (RE-09: 5). Mint runs have no protocol-level mechanism yet — proof-of-liabilities is still a proposal (RE-06: 2); grant-funded (RE-07: 3). Weighted 3.1 → 3.
Inclusivity5.0
No identity, no KYC, no account — anyone with a phone can participate (IN-01: 5, IN-06: 5); near-zero fees (IN-02: 5); equal rules for all (IN-05: 5); no seigniorage or insider allocation (IN-04: 4); used in underbanked contexts via lightweight wallets (IN-03: 4); no anti-concentration mechanism, inherits bitcoin distribution (IN-07: 3). Weighted 4.6 → 5.