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Predicting a Future Free of Dollar Bills

Posted by samzenpus on from the your-money-is-no-good-here dept.

An anonymous reader writes with this story about how a cashless society might work and how far-off in the future it is. "...We're not there yet, but a cashless society is not as fanciful as it seems. Recent research suggests that many believe we will stop using notes and coins altogether in the not-too-distant future. New payments technologies are rapidly transforming our lives. Today in the U.S., 66 percent of all point-of-sale transactions are done with plastic, while in the U.K. it's just under half. But while a truly cashless society is some time away yet, there is raft of groundbreaking technologies that will make cash a mere supporting act in the near future."

6 of 753 comments (clear)

  1. 666 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Good luck everybody

  2. What? by Cryacin · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is going to be disastrous if we remove stripper money.

    Where should I swipe my card miss?

    Swipes

    ... Slap

    --
    Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
    1. Re:What? by Safety+Cap · · Score: 3, Funny

      It would actually be easy enough for Walmart to anonymize them, by simply recording the transaction as "$50 Prepaid Debit Card" and not record which particular debit card number went to which customer. Also, if you anonymously acquire a prepaid debit card used for a transaction involved with some nefarious purpose, you still don't get picked up, because it may trace to that transaction, but it doesn't trace to you.

      It would actually be easy enough for Walmart to switch to paper debit cards that had the amount of the card printed on the front. When you used that card, the cashier simply gave you lower-denomination of cards (say, a $5 debit card when you paid for a 5 dollar item with a $10 debit card).

      Once this practice became pervasive enough, unfortunately the government would have to step in to create rules and regulations as to how all the printing would appear, and to prevent fraud. I suggest they mandate the use of engraved printing plates; green magnetic ink; and heavy cotton rag for the card. Oh, and to certain security features like holograms, watermarks, embedded plastic strips, etc.

      My god, the level of convenience we'd enjoy would blow away any other form of paying for goods and services literally overnight.

      --
      Yeah, right.
  3. Fiat can crash by tepples · · Score: 4, Funny

    the fiat, which can crash at any moment

    The currency or the car?

    (In before "yes".)

    1. Re:Fiat can crash by canadian_right · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yes, you had the only one. And it took a very unusual series of events for you to get a reliable Fiat.

      It was a rare Wednesday that was also a National holiday. The regular crews were all off, and the temps were called in, but it was a Wednesday not a Friday so the temps weren't drunk. Being not drunk they remembered that they had played cards last night with the crew of a Saudi Royals yacht. This crew was all nubile Japanese girls who were taking a holiday from their work building Camries. The Fiat boys convinced them to take their shifts, and behold - the one ever reliable Fiat was built from 1969 through 1988.

      --
      Anarchists never rule
  4. Re:Cashless can't happen, here is why ... by thegarbz · · Score: 4, Funny

    Who said anything about a finance industry? It's almost like there needs to be a system of electronic money which can be transferd just by sending bits from one smartphone to another. These bits would be like coins. Ideally this system should be decentralised and not involve any financial institution.

    These coinbits would seem to solve all of these problems. They just need a catchier name.