Patent ID: 6895391

Claim:
A method for authenticating an electronic payment comprising: receiving from a seller an electronic sales draft including an electronic signature, said electronic sales draft being digitally signed using a private key associated with a public key; receiving from said seller a digital certificate associated with a buyer, said digital certificate including a first verification key and an encrypted version of a personal identification number (PIN), said digital certificate including a binding between at least a portion of said financial account datum and said public key using a second verification key associated with a trusted party performing said binding; using said first verification key to verify that said electronic signature was authorized by said buyer; extracting said encrypted version of said PIN from said digital certificate; decrypting said encrypted version of said PIN using said second verification key or a key associated with said second verification key, thereby verifying said first verification key was bound using said second verification key by said trusted party that performed said binding; generating, using said PIN, an authorization request; sending said authorization request to a financial institution; receiving an approval of said authorization request from said financial institution; and sending said approval to said seller.