In this paper, we presented protocols for achieving anonymous atomic transactions, answering an open question[17].
As stated in the introduction, these protocols are not being proposed for use in their current form. Both efficiency concerns and legal concerns -- portions of the protocol may violate financial institution recordkeeping requirements on transactions over $100 stipulated by the Money Laudering Act (12 USC §1829) in the US -- must be addressed before such a protocol can be used. But an existence proof of an anonymous atomic protocol is an important step towards providing reliable, secure electronic commerce on the Internet, while maintaining individual privacy. Our variant protocol designs demonstrate the range of anonymous, ACID transaction available.
We hope that researchers and system designers in the electronic commerce community will further explore the technical feasibility of providing anonymous atomic electronic money transactions in real systems. We believe that these are fascinating technical issues and that in some contexts anonymous and reliable transactions will have important social value.