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IEEE Spectrum Digs Into the Future of Money

Posted by timothy on from the amazing-kreskin-says-inflation-continues dept.

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."

3 of 292 comments (clear)

  1. Freedom by XanC · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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...

  2. Cash is making a comeback by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A lot of people are starting to pay in cash again simply to get out from under the oppressive thumb of the credit card cartel. It also helps with budgetary discipline, which is why guys like Dave Ramsey are preaching it to the people.

    --
    Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
  3. What could possibly go wrong? by a-zarkon! · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.