Courtesy of Robin Good here is a new concept in payments from RipplePay.  Essentially it allows friends to trade debts as IOU's.

Normally, if your friend Alice owed you $10, she would have to pay you back before you
could make any use of that debt. If you were creative, however, you might be able to pass the
debt on to someone else who knew and trusted Alice, in exchange for something you
wanted. For example, you might be able to get a book you want from Bob, who also knows Alice,
in exchange for letting Alice know that she now owes Bob $10. Instead of money, you used
Alice's IOU to pay Bob. Alice acts as an intermediary between you and Bob.

 This is a different concept, which we will just file for future reference.  While I would normally write off something like this, I can't help but notice similarities to the eBay trust model.

 Relevance to Bankwatch:

 Information only for the payments space.