The End of Cash as we Know it

Nothing is permanent. And that includes money which, really, is just an invention anyway. Money as we know it, though, may be a thing of the past by the time our grandchildren are born, maybe sooner.

The Royal Canadian Mint has announced the release of MintChip, a completely digital currency. They say its going to be better than cash because you can use it like cash but also use it online. MintChip will transfer money between chips using heavily encrypted “value messages".

The Royal Canadian Mint is holding The MintChip Challenge for software developers to come up with creative applications for the technology. They're offering $50 000 in gold. 

CLICK HERE to read more about MintChip.

Now, I don't completely understand the system but I assume it means that there will be NO PHYSICAL cash. At least, eventually, all cash will be eliminated. People say we live in a cashless society now with debit and credit cards. But, the difference is that I can put my debit card into a bank machine and get actual cash. Or go to the bank and withdraw all my money, if I wanted to! How are we going to fill our weekly envelopes if we don't have cash? I guess we'll have multiple MintChips in our money box instead! ha

I'm not "afraid of technology" ...I do all my banking online!  But I don't know how comfortable I'd be with MintChip. Like money, if you lose it, you lose your money. But, unlike money, there's now the possibility of someone remotely hacking into the chip and taking your 'cash'. Sure, they'll be "heavily encrypted" but I'm sure someone will figure it out! At least with credit cards, there's protection in case of theft and they're not getting your actual money!

What do you think? Would you use something like MintChip for all your purchases?

Our currency is absolutely going to change. Once, people used gold and silver... once... giant rocks! Seriously!