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Why the banks want a cashless society (lemmy.world)
submitted 6 months ago by to c/latestagecapitalism@lemmy.world
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[–] 107 points 6 months ago* (13 children)

I know the part about the government will be unpopular in some circles, but

Imo it's the government's job to facilitate trade and provide currency. Nowadays, digital trade is the norm, so the government needs to facilitate a digital currency that is functionally identical to cash. No fees (neither transaction nor accounting), no tracking, no restrictions on how to use it. Ideally, it works offline.

I'm eagerly awaiting what becomes of the digital Euro wallet.

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  • [–] 13 points 6 months ago (3 children)

    "No tracking" is the one we're least likely to get, since the.Christians want to.be a me to control what you spend it on

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  • [–] 5 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    How would untrackable digital currency even work?

    Any transaction is a request from one to another entity, with some authority registering the exchange of funds. Even bitcoin works like this, where the authority is the consensus of the network, instead of a bank.

    Any system without some central authority seems impossible to keep safe from fraud to me. But while I'm skeptical, I'd love to be proven wrong here.

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  • [–] 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

    As someone replied before me, monero is one example. There is more, though.

    But that's never going to be government promoted, and I'll be content with any form of digital currency, cause fuck the banks taking a share of every transaction :')

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    That would happen in an ideal society but at that point you basically have cash. Cash works offline but a digital currency wouldnt because there is no way to prove that youre the one who has the money. This way an offline transaction could be used to basically duolicate money and the first one to reconnect to the network would get the money. But idk, there are much smartee people than me, they can probably figure something out.

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago

    Fully offline is of course impossible. But it can be partially offline. Blockchain, for instance, doesn't require an internet connection to prove that a transaction is possible, but it does need an internet connection to submit and settle. So you would not need an internet connection to pay, the merchant does to accept payment. Similarly to how this works today with card payments.

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  • [–] 16 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (5 children)

    You must be delusional if you think anything good will come of digital euro.

    It will be nothing but a mass surveillance tool. And another step towards the abolition of cash.

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  • [–] 32 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    As opposed to Visa/Mastercard?

    Currently, there are only concepts and promises. They promise the wallet will be p2p, anonymous, and non-traceable. We'll see if that's the case.

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  • [–] 0 points 6 months ago

    There isn't much more they can surveil with a digital euro that they can't yet with how banking works today. Everything is controlled.

    So, between a controlled banking system and a controlled bankless/facilitatorless digital euro, I'll pick the one that doesn't give away my money to the financial world.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago

    the government needs to facilitate a digital currency that is functionally identical to cash. No fees (neither transaction nor accounting), no tracking, no restrictions on how to use it. Ideally, it works offline.

    This will happen sooner or later because cash and crypto are currencies of criminals and tax evaders.

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