GNU Taler

<h2 id="project-history">Project history</h2>
In November 2014 taler.net was launched by <a href="/facts/INRIA/ruIkcapf">INRIA</a> as a new electronic payment system, and Christian Grothoff introduced it a month later in a fOSSa conference talk at INRIA.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14">14</a>
Taler became an official <a href="/facts/GNU/HlAKKBdt">GNU</a> package in February 2015, and its first release was made on June 1 2016.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15">15</a> 
In 2016 Taler Systems S.A. was created (headquartered in <a href="/facts/Luxembourg/vRN04l7f">Luxembourg</a>), to provide business support and management for the Taler users. The same year they have published Web Payments paper and finished <a href="/facts/Chromium_(web_browser)/F1S8sAEt">Chrome</a> and <a href="/facts/Firefox/xez2zv8H">Firefox</a> plugins available for testing.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:16" href="#fn:16">16</a> 
In 2020 the project received a grant from <a href="/facts/NLnet/630AmQjQ">NLnet</a> and the <a href="/facts/European_Commission/Cc5JgbEI">European Commission</a>'s Horizon 2020 Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative to perform an external <a href="/facts/Security_audit/B261JIFY">security audit</a> of the system, which was done by CodeBlau in July.
In September a live system was launched at <a href="/facts/Bern_University_of_Applied_Sciences/MLATuz4d">Bern University of Applied Sciences</a>, originally for a Taler-enabled snack machine. 
In October <a href="/facts/RFC_(identifier)/esftTvE7">RFC</a> <a href="https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8905">8905</a> was published for the payto: internet <a href="/facts/URI/UjyqxTpA">URI</a> scheme, allowing a standardised way to provide payments for internet end-users.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:17" href="#fn:17">17</a>
Their cooperation with the <a href="/facts/Swiss_National_Bank/6sp30K8W">Swiss National Bank</a> have resulted multiple papers on the relation of conventional national banks and electronic money, the privacy implications and various financial viability factors.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:18" href="#fn:18">18</a>
There was also various papers about real-life problems and their handling by Taler, like anonymous age verification, relations to Central Banks and the Euro or using One-Time Passcodes.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:19" href="#fn:19">19</a> 
In January 2024 the NGI launched an Europa-scope Taler project as a privacy-preserving payment system. In 2024 multiple auditor companies announced that they provide services for Taler payment providers.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:20" href="#fn:20">20</a>

<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul>
<li>Free and open-source software portal</li></ul>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/DigiCash/esxCMSoj">DigiCash</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Cryptocurrency/Rg6JAS8y">Cryptocurrency</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Open_source/7X9rCdz4">Open source</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://taler.net/">Official website</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">"GNU Taler 0.0.0 Released: GNU Tries To Get Into Electronic Payments". <a href="https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=GNU-Taler-0.0.0" target="_blank">https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=GNU-Taler-0.0.0</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">"GNU cryptocurrency aims at 'the mainstream economy not the black market'". The Register. <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/06/06/gnu_cryptocurrency_aims_at_the_mainstream_economy_not_the_black_market/" target="_blank">https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/06/06/gnu_cryptocurrency_aims_at_the_mainstream_economy_not_the_black_market/</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:3">"FAQ: How is Taler related to Bitcoin or Blockchains?". <a href="https://taler.net/en/faq.html" target="_blank">https://taler.net/en/faq.html</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:4">"FAQ: How is Taler related to Bitcoin or Blockchains?". <a href="https://taler.net/en/faq.html" target="_blank">https://taler.net/en/faq.html</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:5">"GNU Taler: Ethical Online Payments for the Internet Age". ercim-news.ercim.eu. Retrieved 2020-04-23. <a href="https://ercim-news.ercim.eu/en106/special/gnu-taler-ethical-online-payments-for-the-internet-age" target="_blank">https://ercim-news.ercim.eu/en106/special/gnu-taler-ethical-online-payments-for-the-internet-age</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:6">Sprint, Book (2016-05-19). Cost of Freedom. Lulu.com. ISBN 978-1-365-08698-4. <a href="978-1-365-08698-4" target="_blank">978-1-365-08698-4</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:7">"Halbanonymes Bezahlsystem: GNU Taler soll Kryptowährungen gerechter machen - Golem.de". www.golem.de (in German). Retrieved 2020-01-03. <a href="https://www.golem.de/news/halbanonymes-bezahlsystem-gnu-taler-soll-kryptowaehrungen-gerechter-machen-1606-121323.html" target="_blank">https://www.golem.de/news/halbanonymes-bezahlsystem-gnu-taler-soll-kryptowaehrungen-gerechter-machen-1606-121323.html</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:8">"Stallman's final interview as FSF president: Last week we quizzed him over Microsoft visit. Now he quits top roles amid rape remarks outcry". The Register. <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/09/17/richard_stallman_final_interview/" target="_blank">https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/09/17/richard_stallman_final_interview/</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:9">"A radical proposal to keep your personal data safe". TheGuardian.com. 3 April 2018. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/03/facebook-abusing-data-law-privacy-big-tech-surveillance" target="_blank">https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/03/facebook-abusing-data-law-privacy-big-tech-surveillance</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:10">Carlet, Claude; Hasan, M. Anwar; Saraswat, Vishal (2016-12-09). Security, Privacy, and Applied Cryptography Engineering: 6th International Conference, SPACE 2016, Hyderabad, India, December 14-18, 2016, Proceedings. Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-49445-6. <a href="978-3-319-49445-6" target="_blank">978-3-319-49445-6</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:11">Dold, Florian (2019-02-25). The GNU Taler system : practical and provably secure electronic payments (phdthesis thesis). Université Rennes 1. <a href="https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-02138082" target="_blank">https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-02138082</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:12">Pentland, Alex 'Sandy'. "Digital cash and privacy: What are the alternatives to Libra?". MIT Media Lab. Retrieved 2019-12-28. <a href="https://www.media.mit.edu/posts/digital-cash-and-privacy-what-are-the-alternatives-to-libra/" target="_blank">https://www.media.mit.edu/posts/digital-cash-and-privacy-what-are-the-alternatives-to-libra/</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:13">"Kampf der Kryptowährungen – das sind die Alternativen zu Libra". www.netzwoche.ch (in German). 30 November 2019. Retrieved 2020-01-03. <a href="https://www.netzwoche.ch/news/2019-12-01/kampf-der-kryptowaehrungen-das-sind-die-alternativen-zu-libra" target="_blank">https://www.netzwoche.ch/news/2019-12-01/kampf-der-kryptowaehrungen-das-sind-die-alternativen-zu-libra</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:14">"Taler News". GNU Taler. <a href="https://taler.net/en/news/" target="_blank">https://taler.net/en/news/</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:15">"Taler News". GNU Taler. <a href="https://taler.net/en/news/" target="_blank">https://taler.net/en/news/</a> <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:16">"Taler News". GNU Taler. <a href="https://taler.net/en/news/" target="_blank">https://taler.net/en/news/</a> <a href="#fnref:16" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:17">"Taler News". GNU Taler. <a href="https://taler.net/en/news/" target="_blank">https://taler.net/en/news/</a> <a href="#fnref:17" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:18">"Taler News". GNU Taler. <a href="https://taler.net/en/news/" target="_blank">https://taler.net/en/news/</a> <a href="#fnref:18" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:19">Dept, International Monetary Fund European (2023-06-07). "Switzerland: Selected Issues". IMF Staff Country Reports. 2023 (197). doi:10.5089/9798400243608.002.A001 (inactive 27 March 2025).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of March 2025 (link) <a href="https://www.elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/002/2023/197/article-A001-en.xml" target="_blank">https://www.elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/002/2023/197/article-A001-en.xml</a> <a href="#fnref:19" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:20">"Taler News". GNU Taler. <a href="https://taler.net/en/news/" target="_blank">https://taler.net/en/news/</a> <a href="#fnref:20" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
</ol>

GNU Taler open-in-new

GNU Taler