RSA BSAFE software helped Peppercoin create a trusted and secure transaction environment that makes it possible for vendors to profitably sell content to consumers at prices as a low as a few pennies. Peppercoin's solution can open new market opportunities for online vendors to cost- effectively implement an infrastructure for selling low-priced goods such as music, videos, and games over the Internet.

Founded by Dr. Ronald Rivest (The 'R' in RSA Security) and Dr. Silvio Micali, Peppercoin has created an innovative approach to micropayments that enables digital merchants to reap the benefits of selling low-cost content or goods online. Until recently, the cost of processing low-value transactions was a major roadblock to the adoption of micropayment business models. Peppercoin developed a hyper-efficient payment processing algorithm using mathematical probabilities. A core component of the Peppercoin Payment System is RSA BSAFE software. RSA BSAFE software provides the encryption and digital signing component of Peppercoin's micropayment solution, applying digital signatures to each transaction to ensure the security of users' personal information and the integrity of the exchange by verifying both merchant and consumer are authorized to engage in the transaction. The application of digital signatures ensures a trusted environment for all parties.

"We invested a great deal of time and energy into developing the Peppercoin Payment System to overcome the micropayment challenge and truly expand the potential of online commerce," said Ronald L. Rivest, co-founder of Peppercoin and professor at MIT. "When we needed a secure and reliable means of applying digital signatures and random numerical values to support our methodology, there was no better solution for ensuring our customer's security than RSA BSAFE software. It allowed us to get to market quickly and save money in development costs."

RSA BSAFE software provides the provable and repeatable random number generation required for Peppercoin's patent-pending method of reducing the costs of processing small financial transactions, what the company calls "cryptographically secure selection." This selection process is the underpinning for a system that, when applied across millions of transactions, offers order of magnitude increases in payment processing efficiencies.

"RSA BSAFE software has long been an enabler of online commerce by providing a trusted framework for the exchange of information and high-security authentication," said John Worrall, vice president of worldwide marketing at RSA Security. "The web presents new opportunities every day for businesses to improve customer service, advance business processes and create new revenue streams - as evidenced by the Peppercoin implementation and the transactions it supports - but its success as a business medium depends on the ability of organizations to ensure the security of user information and foster an environment of trust. By using RSA BSAFE software, Peppercoin achieves that objective to the benefit of online merchants and consumers alike."