IOU

An IOU is a conditional transfer of Ownership of a stated quantity of a scarce thing, that the issuer will give at a future date. The issuer keeps the thing until the agreed date, and ownership moves on the terms that the parties set. The trust behind an IOU is its only strength, because only trust makes the issuer give the value when the date comes. An issuer who holds the value that the IOU names and refuses to give it does Theft. An issuer who cannot give it took no thing, and the holder can get only the things that the terms state. It is Fraud only if the issuer had no intention to give the value. It is also Fraud if the issuer hides the facts that made the transfer not possible.