Macadamia Wallet, the first fully native iOS application built on the open-source Cashu ecash protocol, is rolling out a feature that lets users receive bearer ecash transfers from any device to an iPhone. The catch: it’s EU only, at least for now.
The announcement, made on August 30, signals a meaningful step forward for interoperability among privacy-focused digital wallets. Bearer ecash tokens work like digital cash in the most literal sense: whoever holds them owns the value, no identity verification required.
What bearer ecash actually means
The Cashu protocol, which Macadamia is built on, uses a concept called blind signatures. In plain terms, a mint (essentially a token issuer) can verify that a token is legitimate without ever knowing who holds it or what they’re spending it on.
These tokens live off-chain, meaning they don’t clog up Bitcoin’s main network. When a user wants to “cash out,” the tokens get melted back into Bitcoin via Lightning, which handles settlement in near-real time.
