Electronic money transaction device and method

A method of preserving anonymity of a first party in a transaction with a second party, the method comprising:

• receiving anonymous account access information from a portable transaction device having at least one storage medium containing the anonymous account access information for accessing an anonymous account;
• transmitting the anonymous account access information on the at least one storage medium of the portable transaction device, via a communications network, to access the anonymous account and to transfer funds between the anonymous account and the second party, the anonymous account being held by a third party not directly associated with the first party and the first party's personal accounts;
• and
• providing anonymous address information to the second party for sending an item to an address associated with the anonymous address information.

A data processing system for facilitating transaction between a first party and a second party while preserving anonymity of the first party, the system comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory coupled to the processor, the memory configured to store a plurality of code modules for execution by the processor, the plurality of code modules comprising:
• a first code module for receiving anonymous account access information from a portable transaction device having at least one storage medium containing the anonymous account access information for accessing an anonymous account, the anonymous account access information on the at least one storage medium being readable by at least one of an optical data reader, a magnetic data reader, and an electronic data reader;
• and
• a second code module for transmitting the anonymous account access information on the at least one storage medium of the portable transaction device, via a communications network, to access the anonymous account and to transfer funds between the anonymous account and an account of the second party, the anonymous account being held by a third party not directly associated with the first party and the first party's personal accounts.

A system for facilitating transaction between a first party and a second party while preserving anonymity of the first party, the system comprising:

• a communications network;
• a merchant system coupled to the communications network and being configured to provide access to a merchant account;
• an anonymous account holding institution system coupled to the communications network and being configured to provide access to an anonymous account;
• a user system coupled to the communications network and being configured to communicate anonymous account access information to the anonymous account holding institution system to access the anonymous account and transfer finds between the anonymous account and the merchant account, the anonymous account being held by a third party not directly associated with a user providing the anonymous account access information.