3 ms·
Before the advent of automated cash machines who was writing down serial numbers of notes? Maybe tellers at banks after large deposits or suspicious deposits.
by notch656a 4y ago
Before the advent of automated cash machines who was writing down serial numbers of notes? Maybe tellers at banks after large deposits or suspicious deposits. Maybe secret service or the fed. I doubt anywhere near 1% of transactions had the serial number recorded.
I'm sure that shit gets automatically recorded every time it enters the bank now, along with any automated machines you use, so a completely off the cuff guess for me is 30% of cash transactions today may have their serial numbers recorded. Not quite as bad as bitcoin, but probably often enough it's easy enough to trace back to you.
- gamblor956 4y agoThat was kind of the point. US and Europe have had the technical ability to trace cash, but not the resources or werewithal to do it unless they were dealing with money laundering or counterfeiting. That being said, the federal government does track money more granularly now--cash payments to businesses usually get dropped off at the bank on a nightly or weekly basis, and banks do scan all bills they receive and compare them against a list of flagged or counterfeit bills. And for the most part, minorities using large amounts of cash were always subject to additional requirements to "prove" their identity and the provenance of the money. The legacy of this is that banking amongst minorities is a lot lower, especially in the black and Latino communities.