[oceanofsolaris]

But that is just an implementation detail of who is allowed to initiate outgoing transfers from your account. For me, I needed to send a signed letter to my bank to allow recurring debiting to my landlord (and since I stopped that, no entity except myself is allowed to initiate outbound transfers from my account).

That's not to say the Taler model can't work or anything, just that having one number for inbound and one for outbound transfers isn't really necessary for basic account security. The "everyone who knows my account number can draw money from my account" problem seems weird to have (and trivially solvable) .... in which country is this the default?

[lisper]

That policy is particular to your bank. My bank (Chase) doesn't do that. Anyone who knows my account number and has access to ACH can drain my account. (I solve this by having two accounts, one of which I use for ACH, and the other which actually holds most of my money. I have to actively transfer money from one to the other on a regular basis, but it's worth the effort to me to mitigate the risk.)

[zajio1am]

> That policy is particular to your bank. Anyone who knows my account number and has access to ACH can drain my account.

That is unimaginable to me. Here (Czechia), banks require explicit confirmation of direct debit transfers (limit for value per period of time for each initiator of direct debit).

[lisper]

Yes it is rather shocking. The financial system in the US is screwed up in many ways. Sometimes I’m amazed that it works at all.