System and method for disaster recovery in an open metering system

A system, comprising:

• a host computer comprising a programmable first processor, at least one data storage device coupled to the first processor, and a data interface port coupled to the programmable first processor;
• a transaction data storage vault, comprising a second processor, non-volatile memory coupled to the second processor for storing transaction accounting data, and a data interface in communication with the second processor for coupling to the data interface port of the host computer, wherein:
• the host computer sends a transaction request to the vault, and in response, the vault returns a digital token evidencing accounting for the transaction,
• the vault creates a record of cumulative account data following accounting for the transaction, cryptographically protects the account record and supplies the cryptographically protected account record to the programmable first processor, and
• the programmable first processor stores the cryptographically protected account record in the one data storage device.

A system for use with a host computer coupled to a secure transaction accounting vault, said system comprising:

• a secure communications module for executing communications between the host computer and the secure transaction accounting vault, the communications including sending requests for transactions relating to specified values from the host computer to the secure transaction accounting vault and receiving corresponding response messages from the secure transaction accounting vault to the host computer containing digital tokens relating to the specified values;
• a transaction capture module for accumulating one or more records relating to accounting for the transactions and for storing the one or more records in a memory device in the host computer;
• and
• an application program interface, enabling the system to communicate with an application program running on the host computer, to enable the application program to cause the system to initiate a transaction request.