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Amen. Martin Quinn, campaign director for the PCA, said using cash allowed for anonymity. “I don’t want my data sold on, and I don’t want banks, credit card co

Amen. Martin Quinn, campaign director for the PCA, said using cash allowed for anonymity. “I don’t want my data sold on, and I don’t want banks, credit card companies and even online retailers to know every facet of my life,” he said. Budgeting by using cash is also easier for some, he added. Cash is also the only payment system I can think of which is truly “private”. I think this is important too.

gtk40 2y ago
You're probably right, but it doesn't always feel that way when you have serial numbers on every piece of currency. And coins are so uselessly low value today that they're hard to use.
- bamboozled 2y ago
  It’s pretty hard to track serial numbers , you can easily wash the money” yourself ?
  - inglor_cz 2y ago
    Some ATMs likely already track serial numbers, so you know when the banknote left the bank's custody and who withdrew it, using which card. You can also track serial numbers when businesses return daily cash collections to their bank. Especially the biggest denominations won't be passed back to other customers in the meantime, but rather sent back to the bank early.
greenthrow 2y ago
Is it really private? You have to use it in person and every place of business has cameras nowadays.
- 1_1xdev1 2y ago
  It’s way more private than all of your transaction history rolled up by your card issuer. Does some central authority have access to and the compute power to correlate all of the data available in those video feeds? No
  - hoffs 2y ago
    You only need to know where the person was or when crime was committed,
    - 1_1xdev1 2y ago
      You’re right but I don’t think we’re solving for the same thing.
  - willmadden 2y ago
    >Does some central authority have access to and the compute power to correlate all of the data available in those video feeds? No *TrapWire, the bank secrecy act, and the Utah datacenter enter the chat*
- mrmetanoia 2y ago
  the lack of privacy at a business isn't a problem baked into cash. cash helps solve that problem because I don't need to go to a place of business to use it. It can be exchanged anywhere in reasonable amounts, and I don't have to deposit it I can just keep it and use it. my wife and I always keep some cash on hand in case of some sort of problem with the card, or tap device etc. never had my cash declined because a computer thought some other purchases that afternoon looked suspicious.
koonsolo 2y ago
Monero too. But I guess suggesting crypto on HN will not get me any upvotes ;).
- willmadden 2y ago
  No, it will not. They are missing the financial and historical perspective here to appreciate it.
  - throw0101d 2y ago
    > They are missing the financial and historical perspective here to appreciate it. Or people know financial and monetary history and can see the backsliding with most cryptocurrencies: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_currency https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_currency * https://archive.ph/FWKcL https://archive.ph/FWKcL / https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/08/why-the-gold-standard-is-the-worlds-worst-economic-idea-in-2-charts/261552/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/08/why-the... Nicholas Weaver once remarked that cryptocurrency is “speed-running 500 years of financial history” : * https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8425604 https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8425604

gtk40 2y ago

You're probably right, but it doesn't always feel that way when you have serial numbers on every piece of currency. And coins are so uselessly low value today that they're hard to use.

bamboozled 2y ago
It’s pretty hard to track serial numbers , you can easily wash the money” yourself ?
- inglor_cz 2y ago
  Some ATMs likely already track serial numbers, so you know when the banknote left the bank's custody and who withdrew it, using which card. You can also track serial numbers when businesses return daily cash collections to their bank. Especially the biggest denominations won't be passed back to other customers in the meantime, but rather sent back to the bank early.

greenthrow 2y ago

Is it really private? You have to use it in person and every place of business has cameras nowadays.

1_1xdev1 2y ago
It’s way more private than all of your transaction history rolled up by your card issuer. Does some central authority have access to and the compute power to correlate all of the data available in those video feeds? No
- hoffs 2y ago
  You only need to know where the person was or when crime was committed,
  - 1_1xdev1 2y ago
    You’re right but I don’t think we’re solving for the same thing.
- willmadden 2y ago
  >Does some central authority have access to and the compute power to correlate all of the data available in those video feeds? No *TrapWire, the bank secrecy act, and the Utah datacenter enter the chat*
mrmetanoia 2y ago
the lack of privacy at a business isn't a problem baked into cash. cash helps solve that problem because I don't need to go to a place of business to use it. It can be exchanged anywhere in reasonable amounts, and I don't have to deposit it I can just keep it and use it. my wife and I always keep some cash on hand in case of some sort of problem with the card, or tap device etc. never had my cash declined because a computer thought some other purchases that afternoon looked suspicious.

koonsolo 2y ago

Monero too. But I guess suggesting crypto on HN will not get me any upvotes ;).

willmadden 2y ago
No, it will not. They are missing the financial and historical perspective here to appreciate it.
- throw0101d 2y ago
  > They are missing the financial and historical perspective here to appreciate it. Or people know financial and monetary history and can see the backsliding with most cryptocurrencies: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_currency https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_currency * https://archive.ph/FWKcL https://archive.ph/FWKcL / https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/08/why-the-gold-standard-is-the-worlds-worst-economic-idea-in-2-charts/261552/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/08/why-the... Nicholas Weaver once remarked that cryptocurrency is “speed-running 500 years of financial history” : * https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8425604 https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8425604