Symmetrically-secured electronic communication system

An apparatus comprising:

• a memory device which stores doubly encrypted bit patterns associated with monetary denominations;
• and
• a device for for receiving said doubly encrypted bit patterns over a communications channel and for storing said doubly encrypted bit patterns in said memory device,
• wherein said communications channel optionally employs a third communications encryption, and said device deciphers said third communications encryption to obtain said doubly encrypted bit patterns, and
• wherein said doubly encrypted bit patterns are encrypted once using a first party's secret key and once using a public key associated with said memory device.

A method for electronically transferring money between an electronic wallet and a point-of-sale terminal comprising the steps of:

• storing, in said electronic wallet, doubly encrypted bit patterns representing said money;
• decrypting, in said electronic wallet, at least one of said doubly encrypted bit patterns to generate at least one singly encrypted bit pattern;
• re-encrypting, in said electronic wallet, said at least one singly encrypted bit pattern using a public key of said point-of-sale terminal;
• and
• electronically transferring said at least one re-encrypted bit pattern from said electronic wallet to said point-of-sale terminal.

A method for registering a bit pattern representative of an asset comprising the steps of:

• generating a description of said asset;
• encrypting said description using an institution's secret key to create a single encrypted description;
• encrypting said single encrypted description using an owner of said asset's public key to create said bit pattern;
• transmitting said bit pattern to a registry;
• decrypting said bit pattern using said institution's public key to yield said single encrypted description;
• and
• authenticating said single encrypted description.

A method for trading electronic representations of assets comprising the steps of:

• withdrawing, by a first party, from a first registry a first electronic representation of a first asset;
• marking, by said first registry, said first electronic representation of said first asset as unavailable;
• decrypting, by said first party, said first electronic representation of said first asset using said first party's secret key;
• re-encrypting, by said first party, said first electronic representation of said first asset using a second party's public key;
• and
• transmitting said first electronic representation of said first asset to said second party.

A method of providing secure electronic trades between a first party agreeing to trade a first asset and a second party agreeing to trade a second asset in return for said first asset comprising the steps of:

• communicating, by said first party, with a first financial institution to obtain a first bit pattern describing said first asset, said first bit pattern being encrypted using a first cipher key known only to said first institution and further encrypted using a second cipher key supplied by said first party;
• communicating, by said second party, with a second financial institution to obtain a second bit pattern describing said second asset, said second bit pattern being encrypted using a third cipher key known only to said second institution and further encrypted using a fourth cipher key supplied by said second party;
• deciphering, by said first party, said first bit pattern using a cipher key inverse of said second cipher key known only to said first party and re-encrypting said first bit pattern using said fourth cipher key;
• deciphering, by said second party, said first bit pattern using a cipher key inverse of said fourth cipher key known only to said second party and re-encrypting said second bit pattern using said second cipher key;
• and
• exchanging, by electronic transmission between said first and second parties, said re-encrypted first and second bit patterns.

An apparatus comprising:

• a memory device for storing doubly encrypted bit patterns associated with monetary denominations;
• and
• a device for deciphering a first doubly encrypted bit pattern associated with a first monetary denomination using a deciphering key to produce a once deciphered bit pattern, immediately re-encyphering said once deciphered bit pattern using a ciphering key to produce a second doubly encrypted bit pattern, and transmitting said second doubly encrypted bit pattern,
• wherein said second doubly encrypted bit pattern is associated with the first monetary denomination, and
• wherein the device removes from memory the once deciphered bit pattern after said re-encyphering and said transmitting.