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No thanks. Cash is king. Money should never be traceable, and you should be able to buy with anonymity.

dingdongding 9y ago
Why? You don't get anonymity in China.
zanny 9y ago
Except most people don't care if they are being tracked and if they aren't anonymous, so systems like these emerge using the lack of anonymity as a feature. I am one of the folk in the inevitability of cryptocurrency camp (not btc or any existant coin, though) but that world is one where it becomes very easy to correlate wallets, or at least where the funds come from, with the person making the purchases. For everyone who wants anonymity they can keep using bitcoin and gold after fiat paper and coins are gone.
- mac01021 9y ago
  Maybe bitcoin. Not gold: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2642475/nasa-to-explore-asteroid-16-psyche-which-is-so-valuable-it-could-crash-the-worlds-economy/ https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2642475/nasa-to-explore-astero...
urethrafranklin 9y ago
Cash is already somewhat traceable (what did you think it was numbered for?) and it's illegal to buy some things anonymously, so it's really strange that you believe these things.
- zhte415 9y ago
  Numbering of banknotes is mainly a meta-function, to see how long the banknote survives in the real-world. No idea for USD, but GBP 5 pound notes last a surprisingly short amount of time, less than a few months, before wear-and-tear destroys them. There is no regulatory tracking of bank note number to who withdraws it. None. An incredible and incredibly pointless mess. ATMs do read them however,for the just-in-case scenario. In bank robbery stories, sure "A million in used notes" sounds nice, but that's because a net would have been thrown down, or specific attention drawn to a serial, but in most cases, no. The regulatory burden would be far too surreal.
Ironchefpython 9y ago
> No thanks. Cash is king. Money should never be traceable, and you should be able to buy with anonymity. If you believe that, you're going to be shocked when the vast majority of people switch to cashless systems, and cash will only be used for criminal activity, and then cash will become criminalized. The solution isn't to preserve cash. That's doomed to failure.
- sshtunnels 9y ago
  > and then cash will become criminalized It won't happen if enough people fight it. You should value privacy and have a healthy distrust of both banks and governments. Here are the heartening results of an EU survey conducted earlier this year about restricting payments in cash[0]. In short, 94.9% of respondents oppose restrictions on cash payments. 86.9% believe that paying anonymously is an essential personal freedom. That's the spirit. [0] https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/publication/CashPayments https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/publication/CashPayments
carry_bit 9y ago
It's also hard to have negative nominal interest rates when you can just stuff cash under your mattress.

Why? You don't get anonymity in China.

Except most people don't care if they are being tracked and if they aren't anonymous, so systems like these emerge using the lack of anonymity as a feature. I am one of the folk in the inevitability of cryptocurrency camp (not btc or any existant coin, though) but that world is one where it becomes very easy to correlate wallets, or at least where the funds come from, with the person making the purchases. For everyone who wants anonymity they can keep using bitcoin and gold after fiat paper and coins are gone.

mac01021 9y ago
Maybe bitcoin. Not gold: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2642475/nasa-to-explore-asteroid-16-psyche-which-is-so-valuable-it-could-crash-the-worlds-economy/ https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2642475/nasa-to-explore-astero...

urethrafranklin 9y ago

Cash is already somewhat traceable (what did you think it was numbered for?) and it's illegal to buy some things anonymously, so it's really strange that you believe these things.

zhte415 9y ago
Numbering of banknotes is mainly a meta-function, to see how long the banknote survives in the real-world. No idea for USD, but GBP 5 pound notes last a surprisingly short amount of time, less than a few months, before wear-and-tear destroys them. There is no regulatory tracking of bank note number to who withdraws it. None. An incredible and incredibly pointless mess. ATMs do read them however,for the just-in-case scenario. In bank robbery stories, sure "A million in used notes" sounds nice, but that's because a net would have been thrown down, or specific attention drawn to a serial, but in most cases, no. The regulatory burden would be far too surreal.

Ironchefpython 9y ago

> No thanks. Cash is king. Money should never be traceable, and you should be able to buy with anonymity. If you believe that, you're going to be shocked when the vast majority of people switch to cashless systems, and cash will only be used for criminal activity, and then cash will become criminalized. The solution isn't to preserve cash. That's doomed to failure.

sshtunnels 9y ago
> and then cash will become criminalized It won't happen if enough people fight it. You should value privacy and have a healthy distrust of both banks and governments. Here are the heartening results of an EU survey conducted earlier this year about restricting payments in cash[0]. In short, 94.9% of respondents oppose restrictions on cash payments. 86.9% believe that paying anonymously is an essential personal freedom. That's the spirit. [0] https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/publication/CashPayments https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/publication/CashPayments

carry_bit 9y ago

It's also hard to have negative nominal interest rates when you can just stuff cash under your mattress.