We introduce a new micropayment scheme, suitable for certain kinds of transactions, that requires neither online transactions
nor trusted hardware for either the payer or payee. Each payer is periodically issued certified credentials that encode the
type of transactions and circumstances under which payment can be guaranteed. A risk management strategy, taking into account
the payers’ history, and other factors, can be used to generate these credentials in a way that limits the aggregated risk
of uncollectable or fraudulent transactions to an acceptable level. These credentials can also permit or restrict types of
purchases. We show a practical architecture for such a system that uses a Trust Management System to encode the credentials
and policies. We describe a prototype implementation of the system in which vending machine purchases are made using consumer
PDAs.
Keywords Trust Management - Risk Management - Microbilling - Payments - Digital Cash