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> once you send an attenuated capability to someone else, you've lost it

I'm not sure what you mean here.

For example, if Alice sends a token to Bob giving Bob a capability, Alice can sign it with her private key and Bob's public key, such that if Bob (or anyone else) wants to use that capability, they have to have Bob's private key to do so.

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What I mean is that if Bob hands his capability to Carol, she can give it to Dave and he can't stop it.

I don't see any reason we need keys here.

But Dave can only use the capability if he has Bob's private key. That's why we need keys.

Dave doesn't need a private key, the token just needs the ability to be traded.

One of the more complex aspects of OCAPy design vs the we do things now is that in a fully ocap world, the token wouldn't just be a string, but possibly a reference to a living object that Alice owns.

Then the trade (and any use of the capability) always goes through Alice.

That's why you don't need crypto in a real OCAP world.

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