Reduced transaction processing costs and it's safer (from a hazardous theft point of view)?
This one used to trouble me too once upon a time - the notion of being able to create theoretical electronic money out of fresh air. There are a few problems to overcome, though.
First there's the audit. If you're fiddling value like this, it's going to be tough to explain how you gave all those interest bearing loans when you didn't have the money to cover them. Anomalies should show up in the balance sheet. (OK - I concede there is already more than enough evidence that audits haven't always managed to catch the rotten eggs, but it's a hurdle).
Next, there is interbank transactions. Dialing up an extra nought on your bank balance is no problem on your own systems - not possible when you've got to spirit your expanded balance onto someone else's system.
But I've saved the best for last.
Try as you might, you can't hide the consequences of money oversupply. Look at Zimbabwe, a classic case of a government printing its own money (read conning its citizens) without an underpinning value derived, at the very least, from supply and demand. And then there was the Barterchek case I mentioned in another thread.
When banks (even central banks) start massaging the numbers it'll show. Perhaps not instantly, but soon enough.

First there's the audit. If you're fiddling value like this, it's going to be tough to explain how you gave all those interest bearing loans when you didn't have the money to cover them. Anomalies should show up in the balance sheet. (OK - I concede there is already more than enough evidence that audits haven't always managed to catch the rotten eggs, but it's a hurdle).
Next, there is interbank transactions. Dialing up an extra nought on your bank balance is no problem on your own systems - not possible when you've got to spirit your expanded balance onto someone else's system.
But I've saved the best for last.
Try as you might, you can't hide the consequences of money oversupply. Look at Zimbabwe, a classic case of a government printing its own money (read conning its citizens) without an underpinning value derived, at the very least, from supply and demand. And then there was the Barterchek case I mentioned in another thread.
When banks (even central banks) start massaging the numbers it'll show. Perhaps not instantly, but soon enough.
Comment