[1] Cryptographers think the field originated from the work of Dr David Chaum who invented the blind signature[2].
[citation needed] A system that was widely used during the 1970s-1990s and previously developed cryptographic mechanism is the Data Encryption Standard, which was used primarily for the protection of electronic funds transfers.
[4] However, it was the work of David Chaum that excited the cryptography community about the potential of encrypted messages as actual financial instruments.
In 2001, PayPal processed $3.1 billion in payments, averaging 189,000 transactions daily totaling $9.6 million.
[5] But more innovative mechanisms, including blinded token money, struggled to gain traction.