2012-12-07 mobilepaymentstoday.com - Commentary: The future of cash in a mobile-

[julz]

Commentary: The future of cash in a mobile-digital world

Mike Lee
2012-12-07

http://www.mobilepaymentstoday.com/article/204925/Commentary-The-future-of-cash-in-a-mobile-digital-world


What will happen to money, and especially cash, in this new electronic age? Will all money eventually be digitized?
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The rise of 'fiat' money
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Today's so-called "fiat" money is in itself useless. It is simply an agreed-upon medium of exchange. And the value of money is determined purely by the supply and demand of market forces. By the time computers and the Internet came along, money had already become an abstract symbol. So why not turn it into a mathematical symbol, a mere matter of digits?

This is what is happening with the growing number of Internet-based virtual currencies such as BitCoin. BitCoin describes itself proudly as a P2P digital currency or electronic cash system that "does not need authorities to manage [it]". It works by creating a digital wallet, stored on an online system, for each client. Payments can be made to other registered users on the BitCoin network.
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But e-cash is "a chain of digital signatures." Oh dear, what happened to the KISS principle here? Nakamoto describes the technical complexities of running the virtual BitCoin currency in his paper "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System". The man in the street will not understand all the jargon used in his analysis (nor do I).
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[1714996452]

1714996452

[Gabi]

Wow, probably a record for bullshit density! The density is so high!

[marcus_of_augustus]

Wow, probably a record for bullshit density! The density is so high!

Don't know what article you read but I thought the level of information contained was pretty good, detailed. Not sure about his philosophy about state-issued currencies versus gold, silver, private-currencies and etc but he didn't seem to have any particular axe to grind there ... mostly just about physical forms of money versus digital, which is a worthy and enlightening topic to understand how people perceive "money" and wealth.

Interesting to see that physical cash is still going great guns and in fact increasing in many countries at 10% compound growth rates and still represents 8 out of 10 transactions ... the digital overlords wouldn't have you believe anything like that.

Edit: I should have made clear the proviso that the bitcoin info in the article was mediocre ... but I don't expect anything else after reading so much of it over the last 2 years ... so not even worth the comment.

[TraderTimm]

Beats me if my reply will be posted, so I'll copy it here:

You do realize that money is already 'virtual', right? When you do an ACH or SWIFT-based transfer, a server somewhere in the banking infrastructure is using "Oh dear, not simple" algorithms to make the transfer.

The world is changing fast, and insisting that cash is a 'touch' preferred instance to sooth our 'caveman' desires is absurd. More people make digital-based transfers than real ones.

As for your bitcoin specific points, oh dear, where do I start. You show a true lack of knowledge for the subject, beginning with how bitcoin network clients have to "register". There is no such requirement. You join the network when running the client, and it functions.

Given that you don't grasp that, why should your readers pay attention to the rest of your SEO-spun waffling?

This man didn't do a lick of research, and it shows.

[Rockefoten]

I would be very surprised if the CEO of the global trade body for the ATM industry was pro Bitcoin, but I find it interesting that he devotes that much space to Bitcoin (though he doesn't seem to understand it too well).

[nobbynobbynoob]

Interesting to see that physical cash is still going great guns and in fact increasing in many countries at 10% compound growth rates and still represents 8 out of 10 transactions ... the digital overlords wouldn't have you believe anything like that.

And really, on top of that, Bitcoiners quietly don't mind a bit of physical money on the side, else there'd be no market for CASASCIUS bitcoins.