The original note, as written at the time
DEDICATED DIGITAL TRANSACTION RESOURCES (DDTR). I think that it is important to make sure that every digital device has an aspect of compartmentalised resources if we are to ensure true digital commerce — a true cashless economy and the like. Each phone or computer should have a part of its battery, processor and memory specifically dedicated to digital transactions, so that even if the other portion fails or requires an update, the transactional path survives.
Ongoing development
Dedicated digital transaction resources: every device should have a compartmentalised portion of its battery, processor and memory reserved for digital transactions, so that even if the rest of the machine fails or updates, the transaction path survives.
The argument is about trust in infrastructure, and it is correct. A cashless economy runs on the assumption that the payment will work, and that assumption is currently false in exactly the situations where money matters most: a flat battery, a failed update, a phone full of storage, a device running hot.
Reserving a slice of the hardware is a strong way to make a promise. Not a software priority — a separate partition with its own budget, so that the payment path cannot be starved by the twenty other things the phone is doing.
The design questions are the interesting ones. What is the minimum transaction? If the reserved core has two percent of the battery, then it can complete a small payment and it cannot run a video call, which is probably the right trade and should be stated as a limit rather than hidden.
The second question is who controls it. If the reserved core belongs to the bank, the phone has been sold to a third party. If it belongs to the user, the guarantee is weaker but the device stays theirs. The correct answer is that the compartment is defined by the device maker and leased to the payment system per transaction, with a visible record.
And it should work offline. The whole point of a reserved core is the moment when nothing else works.
Money should work when the phone is dying. That is the requirement.