Taler 0.3 Released: GNU Still Striving For A Free Software Payment System

Among the lesser-known GNU projects is Taler, which is trying to be a free software electronic payment system. Today marks its v0.3 release, but it only works so far with toy currencies.

GNU Taler describes itself as, "GNU Taler is a free software electronic payment system providing anonymity for customers. Payments can in principle be made in any existing currency, or a bank can be launched to support new currencies. Merchants are not anonymous, and--due to income-transparency--the state can perform effective tax audits."

But don't look for GNU Taler to replace Bitcoin or other crypto-currency payment methods for making anonymous purchase... Taler is still considered alpha and it doesn't have any integration with real banking systems, so only "toy currencies" are supported for now.

Those wishing to learn more about Taler 0.3 can read the GNU mailing list announcement.