Trends in digital money

Before discussing pure digital money, this chapter looks at cash, which has been the predominant mechanism for exchanging value in all forms of commerce for millennia. The chapter first asks the question “what is cash?”, and then considers how cash is used today, in particular the reality that, as a result of IT, people around the world are using cash less and, in some countries, hardly using cash at all. The chapter then describes the apparent cash conundrum where, despite the reduction in the use of cash around the world, the stock of cash in circulation (CIC) is rising, partly because people view cash not only as a “medium of exchange” but also a “store of value”, and therefore especially useful in emergency situations. Finally, the chapter discusses the concept of a cashless future, and concludes that, despite the fact that