Will paper currency and metal coinage be replaced with electronic money?

SanctionII

The trend in society is to head towards paperless transactions (electronic commerce/business, for example, court systems are heading towards mandatory electronic filing of court documents).

Do any of you think that paper currency and metal coinage will ever be discarded/banned and replaced with electronic currency? Much of the world's financial transactions are done electronically and I doubt that there is sufficient paper currency and metal coinage to cover the value of all of the money on deposit in financial institutions in the world.

If you think currency and coinage will be discarded/banned, when do you think it will happen, what will replace it (plastic ID/debit/credit card with dna/fingerprint/eye scan features that connect it only to you, with all transactions being monitored and stored by BIG BROTHER) and is this something that you think is a good thing or a bad thing?

Further, if it does happen, what to you think its effect would be on our beloved "hobby of kings"?

Tootawl

With advent of credit cards, charge cards, and ATM debit cards, electronic money is already here. There will always be a need for coins & currency but that need will get smaller and smaller as time goes by. I've even heard that some vending machines will now take these cards. At most parking garages, you don't pay with cash any more. You pay at a common access terminal that gives you a card to get out of the garage.

BillJones

If all paper money and coins were to disappear, the IRS would rule the world.

Let's hope it never happers, because it would make the "Big Brother" of 1984 like like your baby sister.

TheRaven

We are heading towards a world with more and more electronic transactions, but there will always be some "hard" money.

I also think that coins would increase in denomination and paper money would fade away first. I base this on the fact that paper money has such a short life span and coins are much longer. Also small purchases would also be all that cash would be used for.

Prethen

Yes....hard money will go away one day. It's a logical step, albeit maybe not in our life time. Hard money is simply a waste of materials and efficiency when simple bits of data, 1's and 0's can be transmitted between purchaser and seller to complete a transaction. I rarely use cash for anything any more.

relayer

Yes

EJB

F.Lee. Bailey said 20 years ago, "GET RID OF CASH AND YOU GET RID OF 70 PERCENT OF THE CRIME". I use CC's and checks for most purchases.Just think Dope deals would stop, robberys would be yery rare can't fence goods when you have to take a check I think it would be a very good thing... IMO...

cladking

Unfortunately it is likely to happen but probably not for a couple more generations.

The greatest threat is to privacy. There are many things one purchases in a lifetime
that are no one else's business and at the current time once something gets on a com-
puter access to it can't be limited. For privacy purposes no one should have access to
all of this information.

ms70

<< <i>If all paper money and coins were to disappear, the IRS would rule the world.

Let's hope it never happers, because it would make the "Big Brother" of 1984 like like your baby sister. >>



I agree.

solid

Eventually, yes.

I heard a couple days ago about some supermarkets in Japan where all
you need to do is place your finger on a fingerprint reader and the money
is transferred from your account to the store's.

Ken

bigtonydallas

Guess what. If paper and coins disappear the crooks will be forced to use cards but they will just get sneakier about it and pass the cost on to their users. Right now you can get a card swipe for a pocket pc!! When there's a will there's a way! One thing they need to get rid of is paper checks. No more floating and rubber checks!

bigtonydallas

Secondly it would only affect the modern collectors!

cladking

<< <i>Secondly it would only affect the modern collectors! >>



The immediate effect would be to cause a surge in popularity of modern coins*
but the long term effect would be to kill the market for all coins. There would
probably be a handful of collectors who might support the prices of rarities but
most coins would be of interest only to museums, anthropologists, sociologists,
metallurgists, and others with a professional interest.






In this case "modern" would refer only to what is circulating at that time.

bigtonydallas

TO me modern is 1964 to present. Some would say 1933 to present!

flaminio

It will be a long time before physical manifestations of money (coins and currency) are gone, but the trend is definitely toward less and less of it. In my day-to-day life I rarely use cash for any purchase. Even a trip to the grocery store for milk and eggs is paid with a swipe of my card. The only places I can't reliably use my plastic is vending machines and coin dealers .

michael

eventually

LincolnCentMan

Will paper currency and metal coinage be replaced with electronic money?

Probably not until we're a multi-planetary species. At that point, it wouldnt be practical to keep transporting money between planets.

David

MAD4MORGANS

Yes!!

The Government will implant a non-removable micro bio-chip in your forehead and when you go to the store the cashier will drag your head across their flatbed scanner. You then will type in a Government issued PIN number to complete your transaction. If your PIN number doesn't work for reasons like non-payment of taxes, child support, parking tickets, ect. you will be denied the transaction until you conform to the current Rules of State. Anyone without a chip will be shunned and considered an outlaw.

You will not be allowed to possess hard money (coins) because the Government had previously outlawed and confiscated them. Those who are caught hoarding them, will pay a stiff penalty, be imprisoned, or in more severe cases executed. Paper money will be worthless and will be recycled into toilet paper.

To use your home computer, your will have to scan your forehead prior to surfing the internet. The Government will know every web-site you visit, what your personal habits are, and track anything you purchase on GBay (Government Bay).

The chip in your forehead will collect/hold all other types of Government accessible information about you and you will be readily locatable by GPGS/ON-STAR. When you contract a virus, you will have to see a computer specialist instead of a doctor.

Because of over-population, your micro bio-chip can be programmed at any time to self-destruct terminating your life well before reaching the old Social Security "retirement" age.

So now aren't you sorry you asked or read my post??!!

mirabela

In other words, hoard gold & munitions. Check.

ddink

<< <i>The Government will implant a non-removable micro bio-chip in your forehead and when you go to the store the cashier will drag your head across their flatbed scanner. You then will type in a Government issued PIN number to complete your transaction. If your PIN number doesn't work for reasons like non-payment of taxes, child support, parking tickets, ect. you will be denied the transaction until you conform to the current Rules of State. Anyone without a chip will be shunned and considered an outlaw. >>



More likely your hand, but yes, that pretty much covers it.

They already have microchip implants they can put in pets with the owner's name, address, etc. Supposedly they have chips that can even tell if the surrounding tissue is dead or alive. I hope it never happens, but we are coming closer all the time. The good news is that hackers have a tendency to stand in the way of Big Brother...at least for awhile.

Baley

yes, someday. and when it does, our coins will go up in value

sellsatan

Hard money will never go away because without it crime is impossible. The biggest crooks on earth are the politicians who make decisions about such things. Cash rules everything around me folks. Oh, and without hard currency you'd just see a large scale return to bartering.

unspendable

i dont get carried away with the bible or anything even i believe in it, but the bible says no one will be able to trade unless they have the mark of the beast , I really dont know and I am a newby here and I also had a couple of beers since I got off work so dont eject me .... they say dont ever talk about religion or politics, oh boy should keep my buttons shut... but you asked

oreville

cladking: I am not so sure about the popularity of coin collecting getting killed.

If anything, it might make them even more desired.

Hedger

Plastics make it possibe. If we don't have plastic coins by then I suppose we'll all be issued credits but only if you're a legal citizen.

cladking

<< <i>cladking: I am not so sure about the popularity of coin collecting getting killed.

If anything, it might make them even more desired. >>



I may well be wrong.

Certainly in the short run there is likely to be increased interest which would tend
to permeate the hobby after a few years. Coin collectors would tend to feel that
"all the coins that will ever be made have been made" and will want to get their
share or preserve them for posterity. This could last for up to fifteen years or so
depending on the how demographics look at the time money became obsolete. In
the longer run though it seems as though there will be too few new collectors made
to support the market. New collectors often get their start from coins in circulation
and with no coins in circulation non-collectors will even begin to forget there ever were
any coins. As coins build up in collections and dealer inventory sellers will find no out-
let and lower prices. This will likely snowball quickly or slowly dependent on the amount
of speculation at that time.

A few people will still be atteacted to coins but the hobby would be very much different.
It would no longer be a mass market after a generation so would change enormously.

kramer

<< <i>i dont get carried away with the bible or anything even i believe in it, but the bible says no one will be able to trade unless they have the mark of the beast >>



Exactly what i think when I hear about this

ursabear

I think that hard currency will evaporate for common, everyday transactions one or two generations from now.

I think there will always be a need for some hard currency in some form for the forseeable future, though.

I think it's hard to imagine what people will be thinking two or three generations from now, because the progression of technology is still moving faster than it used to. In other words, when all the people who remember silver coins and interesting notes are gone, what will people remember? Instant transactions, bill-paying, and online payment.

ddink

The quote is:



<< <i>He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. This calls for wisdom. if anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666. >>



Revelation 13:16-18. A combonation of that prophecy with modern technology (the ability to implant computer chips which can store all personal and financial information) presents a scary picture.

MAD4MORGANS

This is kind of scary!!

MICRO CHIP IMPLANTS

ConstellatioCollector

We have ATM cards and those ATM cards are being accepted all over the world! Reminds me of episodes of Star Trek when personnel paid by card in the bar!