Central banks and criminals are colluding to grow the shadow economy, which seems mad to me, because the seigniorage income from the circulating medium of exchange is a fraction of the tax gap it stimulates. Surely we should have a plan to do something about this?
The relationship between payments and anonymity (which we can label “cash” for short) is far more complicated than it appears. If you ask people whether they want anonymity in payments, they are very likely to say yes, but that’s because they haven’t really thought about it.
The middle class don’t think that paying their builder or nanny or gardener in cash is a crime. But it is. And, just for the record, I pay mine using FPS. We need to change this attitude to start the revolution.
There are good reasons for providing electronic payment systems to the less formal parts of the economy, for people who deserve better than cash.
Legal businesses want electronic payments. No two ways about it.
The crossover point where the transactional use of social capital makes economic sense is falling to the point where it replaces notes and coins.
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