Recently HN discussed Chaum's ideas [1] and DigiCash [2]. His ecash [3] system was going to be something like an anonymous Google Wallet. Bitcoin wins in being decentralized, it does not need a bank or Google to issue electronic cash and guarantee that you can eventually get real money in return. But it is not anonymous.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10850192 [2] https://cryptome.org/jya/digicrash.htm [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecash