Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can trace their roots to this earlier, privacy-focussed payment system for the internet.”
About forty years ago, cryptographer David Chaum invented ecash. Ecash is a currency privacy protocol, not a currency itself. However, the fiat banking system did not adopt ecash, leaving the ecash protocol without a viable currency to operate on. But with the advent of Bitcoin, the most open currency, the concept of ecash has been revitalized on Bitcoin. For example,
Bitcoin doesn't need ecash. Ecash needs Bitcoin.