4 ms·

> There are many other ways to barter and exchange goods. Genuinely curious - what do you think will happen (and what would be used)? I genuinely can't imagin

by iamben 4y ago

> There are many other ways to barter and exchange goods. Genuinely curious - what do you think will happen (and what would be used)? I genuinely can't imagine most of the people in my life (be that older relatives, non-tech friends, whoever) using anything but whatever 'money' is convenient. None of them care the government might be watching, and if they were going to barter for anything they're probably already doing it ("you help me with this DIY, I'll take you for dinner"). FWIW I'm in the UK, so perhaps my perspective is skewed?

f38zf5vdt 4y ago
Whatever is readily available to be converted into digital "cash" when needed will be used. Wealthy people maintain most of their assets outside of cash in property of various types. When they need "on the books" spending, they bring it into the cash economy with on/off ramps. I don't know if the UK is different from much else of the developed world, but here there is a tremendous amount of off-by-book transactions in the largest industries such as farming and construction. I do not think that the disappearance of cash will remove this economy, but it will have to migrate to other assets with similar qualities.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- starkd 4y ago
  Maybe for large significant transactions, but barter economy is next to impossible for consumer goods. If a lot of the economy goes off the books, it will come with greater friction between transactions, less overall liquidity.
  - d110af5ccf 4y ago
    you can "barter" with something like XMR though. that seems to be even lower friction than physical cash in some ways
  - tomatocracy 4y ago
    Fortunately though there are lots of substitute currency-like instruments out there. Prepaid debit cards, Amazon gift cards, etc. Or even foreign currency cash like US dollars.

4 ms·

> There are many other ways to barter and exchange goods. Genuinely curious - what do you think will happen (and what would be used)? I genuinely can't imagin

by iamben 4y ago

f38zf5vdt 4y ago
Whatever is readily available to be converted into digital "cash" when needed will be used. Wealthy people maintain most of their assets outside of cash in property of various types. When they need "on the books" spending, they bring it into the cash economy with on/off ramps. I don't know if the UK is different from much else of the developed world, but here there is a tremendous amount of off-by-book transactions in the largest industries such as farming and construction. I do not think that the disappearance of cash will remove this economy, but it will have to migrate to other assets with similar qualities.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- starkd 4y ago
  Maybe for large significant transactions, but barter economy is next to impossible for consumer goods. If a lot of the economy goes off the books, it will come with greater friction between transactions, less overall liquidity.
  - d110af5ccf 4y ago
    you can "barter" with something like XMR though. that seems to be even lower friction than physical cash in some ways
  - tomatocracy 4y ago
    Fortunately though there are lots of substitute currency-like instruments out there. Prepaid debit cards, Amazon gift cards, etc. Or even foreign currency cash like US dollars.