Top 10 Inventions in Money Technology During the 1900's

scuggums writes "The DaVinci Institute has put together an interesting historic piece to help put the world of money technology into perspective. While I'm glad to see the ATM machine made the list, I had no idea it was invented back in 1939. Other items on the list are barcodes, spreadsheets, and RSA encryption. This looks to be one of the research pieces the Institute's doing for their upcoming Future of Money Summit in October."

Comments

A little tidbit...

[Valar]

The first international banking system was establish ed by the Knights Templar during the crusades. It used something like a check, so that pilgrims didn't have to carry physical wealth with them along the way. The involvement of the templar in money handling is part of what made them so wealthy, which was part of what made them so feared, which was King Philip eventually rounded up and arrested the leaders of the order. I just think it's kind of interesting that banking has its roots in a militant order...

Historic inventions are nice

[The Old Burke]

.. but the future is even more interesting.
Just Imagine all the new possibilities for new cominations you can arrange if you combine the latest in technology with the old paper bill.

I'm really looking forward to the bill that makes its possible to track where the bill was, who used it and what was bought. For example, retailers could produce special targeted advertising for peole that came with money they had won in a lottery. If the retailer knows where the customer has grabbed the money its much easier to sell thing based on customer history and public profiles.

A on the security side the government can destroy money that belongs to suspected criminals and therby prevent crime before it takes place. If you don't have cash its difficault to opperate for example a drug ring.

Fiat Money

[Anonymous Coward]

One of the top 10 'innovations' would have to be the removal of gold backing the Dollar, allowing for huge national deficits. A nice timeline is here.

Never Trust The Client

[rsmith-mac]

Frankly, smart cards shouldn't be on that list, as the intended use(storing money on the card) has not been perfected against people hacking the card for more money. Smart cards trust the "client", and as any MMORPG developer can tell you, that's a bad thing. Paper money and credit cards at least have some protection, smart cards on the other hand are a relitively easy fraud source for anyone with a card writer, and the resources to use it; unlike any other method, you end up with a perfect "digital copy" of the money.

Anti-Conterfeiting Technology

[rhysweatherley]

The article is good, but focuses mainly on technologies for automating the transfer of money (wire transfer, credit cards, ATM's, etc).

There have also been significant leaps in the technology that is plain old paper currency. e.g. watermarking, plastic bank notes (Australia), holograms, etc.

Would have been nice if they had explored this aspect also. Give me good old-fashioned currency any day.

the memory bank

[lopati]

keith hart i think should have been one of the speakers, here's an excerpt from "the memory bank":

The idea of money as a source of social memory was also crucial for John Locke, who figures prominently in our story as the philosopher who inaugurated the modern age of democratic revolutions. Locke was obsessed with money's role both in establishing a progressive social order and in subverting it as its criminal antithesis. Indeed, he believed that money launched humanity from the state of nature onto the road to civil government. As long as men's possessions were limited to perishable products, the scope for property was restricted. Money, by offering a durable store of value convertible against all useful things, unleashed the potential for property accumulation and for the intergenerational transmission of inequality. For Locke, then, money was indispensable to that development of cultural memory on which civilization depends.

also btw, bernard lietaer should've been a speaker as well! (altho he is on the board :)

Strangely missing...

[ccnull]

No anti-counterfeiting technology? (Security strips in money, inks that change color when you change the angle, microprinting)

Surely there has been SOMETHING of interest to come from the financial/tech world to be invented in the last 20 years.

Octopus: Hong Kong smart card - Re:Excuse me, but

[bailster]

In Hong Kong we use a smart card (stored value card) called the Octopus. I wear a waterproof Octopus watch, which contains the smart chip.

With the watch/card I can:
--take a bus or minibus from home to the subway station
--get coffee and sandwich at starbucks near the subway station
--ride the subway to the ferry terminal
--stop at 7-11 and buy a magazine
--pay for the ferry to one of many smaller islands
--get a coke from the vending machine at the ferry terminal
--go to the beach at a smaller island, don't worry about my "money" getting wet -- but no, the seafood restaurants and island bars won't take the card...

The card is totally anonymous (or so they tell us). Downsides: it has an upper limit of HK$1000, good for cheap stuff but nothing big, has to be refilled in person for cash, and isn't accepted at many places other than the ones just mentioned. The local McDonald's stopped taking them about a year ago. The Octopus was originally developed by the HK subway system (govt owned, now partially privatized) "from Australian technology" and was then extended to some retailers "near" subway facilities. I have a feeling the banks and bank regulators wouldn't let them go any further -- way too threatening.

The upshot is that, except for the fact that you are required by law to carry your ID, you can basically spend a whole day outside without having to carry a wallet. Now, try to do the same thing in most other countries. Why hasn't anyone rolled this out in the US?

[By the way, the HK govt is now phasing in smart card ID cards -- haven't heard what they plan to do with the info. Big bro has a new toy!]