[wsfii-discuss] Worldchanging article on Complementary currencies

Wed Oct 5 19:52:52 UTC 2005

So, 5th Oct 2015, then. Say, 1 x £20- note to me, or 1 X £20- credit (or
equivalent) to you.

Cheers

Mike

Quoting Adrian Short <adrian.short at gmail.com>:

>> I've been lurking on this thread for a while reading all the mails regarding
>> complimentary currencies. However, given the following statement:
>> "It's pretty clear to me that cash as we know it will cease to exist in
>> a few years"
>>
>> Would you like to put a date (and a bet on this)?
>
> I'd love to.
>
> Cash as we knew it has already been abolished in the UK. Banks do not
> have to keep any specific reserves in cash. You can't get paid state
> benefits in cash. It's not possible to buy relatively high-value items
> or make bank deposits in cash in the UK without surrendering the
> benefit of anonymity, due to money-laundering regulations. I believe
> the limit is 10,000 GBP but individual institutions may have lower
> limits. There are international agreements on money laundering that
> apply in most countries. Everywhere you look, cash is getting squeezed
> out and is accepted either grudgingly or at a disadvantage to the
> buyer except for the smallest transactions where electronic transfer
> costs exceed the value of the sale. Socially, we're already at the
> point where if you have a large amount of cash, people assume you're a
> crook - and they're probably right.
>
> When the Northern Bank in Belfast got raided, the thieves took so much
> cash (26.5 million GBP) that the bank withdrew all the similar notes
> in circulation. How many more times do you expect them to want to do
> that?
>
> "(Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh) Orde revealed that Northern
> Bank, the victim of the robbery, would be withdrawing all its
> banknotes and replacing them with differently coloured ones, making
> the robbery "the largest theft of waste paper in history".
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,1385473,00.html
>
> Poor old cash. It's going into retirement. Perhaps we should have a
> whip-round for it.
>
> Twenty years ago, no-one had mobile phones. Now, almost everyone has
> one and many have mobile, wireless broadband, video telephony etc.
> People settle up minor debts between friends and family with Paypal.
> As technological progress accelerates, science fiction is becoming
> everyday mundane reality incredibly quickly.
>
> How long, then, before people can do peer-to-peer electronic payments?
> Five years? Ten? Past that point, why would anyone want or need cash?
> Would they be reasons that governments and banks would allow to
> override the convenience and security that it brings them? Every
> technological advance is exploited to limit the scope of cash as soon
> as it becomes available, and the point at which this is absolute is
> fast approaching.
>
> I'm 99% certain that cash _in the developed world_ will be gone in 20
> years, 50% certain that it'll be gone in ten. It's both a problem and
> an opportunity. I intend to maximise the opportunity.
>
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>

Regards

Mike Ryan

Redmar Consulting Ltd
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