IEEE Spectrum Digs Into the Future of Money

New submitter ArmageddonLord writes "Small, out-of-pocket cash exchanges are still the stuff of everyday life. In 2010, cash transactions in the United States totaled $1.2 trillion (not including extralegal ones, of course). There will come a day, however, when you'll be able to transfer funds just by holding your cellphone next to someone else's and hitting a few keys — and this is just one of the ways we'll wean ourselves off cash. In 'The Last Days of Cash,' a special report on the future of money, we describe the various ways that technology is transforming how we pay for stuff; how it's boosting security by linking our biometric selves with our accounts; and how it's helping us achieve, at least in theory, an ancient ideal — money that cannot be counterfeited."

Freedom

[XanC]

An untraceable method of paying for things has disadvantages, yes, but also serious advantages in limiting the power of government to see and control everything we do...

Uh

[ExecutorElassus]

This timing of this report - how long ago was the BitCoin theft? a couple weeks? - seems a bit ill-planned.

What could possibly go wrong?

[a-zarkon!]

Using a service-provider configured, jail-breakable device for financial transactions... Malware is already an issue on smart phones. Also, I guarantee that this "service" is not free. Everyone involved in the transaction is going to charge something. 3% to ATT or Verizon, 3% to the payer's bank, 3% to the recipient's bank, probably another 3% to some service provider/clearing house vendor, plus complete gov't visibility which means that all taxes are guaranteed to be charged. Yes, this may be simplified to the point where it's as easy as pulling $1.00 bill out of your pocket to buy your gum, but that $1.00 item is going to double in price to cover all the incidental charges. Call me a luddite, but I'm perfectly happy to stick with cash.

Re:Cash is making a comeback

[h4rr4r]

Does it pay 1% back yet?

I love taking advantage of credit card companies. Free 28 day loans and 1% back are great. I never buy anything on the card that I could not write a check for anyway, so I don't pay interest. I used to go to a mechanic that offered 2% off if you payed cash, so I did there.

Many people like me are too used to getting either a discount or free short term loans to go back to using only cash.

And all transactions can be tracked...

[gestalt_n_pepper]

How cute! I mean, who *doesn't* want their every financial transaction tracked and analyzed by the government and a few thousand corporations trying to sell you something. And of course, technology is so reliable! I'd trust my every dollar to that bastion of security, the cell phone. I mean, who wouldn't!

Excuse me, I have to go mop up some of that sarcasm that's been dripping all over the floor from somewhere.

Re:Freedom

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

MONEY IS DEBT

Don't be fooled by the tokens.

Re:Freedom

[Bam_Thwok]

No it isn't. Every dollar of credit a bank extends creates a debit on their books as well. That's what lending is. Fractional reserve banking is a *limiter* on this activity, not a facilitator.