THE FUTURE OF MONEY Bernard A. Lietaer - library.uniteddiversity ...

The real revolution of possibilities unleashed by the Information
Age will start to be seen when different kinds of currency follow the
same electronic path that the national currencies are now blazing.
The cybersphere is also the ideal new money frontier, the ideal space
with ample opportunity for creativity around money to emerge. One
example of such creativity was demonstrated in the UK by the Tesco
Clubcard (see sidebar). But the blurring is even deeper than that. We
already have airlines becoming retailers (e.g British Airways Air
Miles becoming redeemable for Sainsbury's retail vouchers) or
getting involved in phone services (e.g. the new Lufthansa Senator
cards are used not only to buy air tickets and keep track of Frequent-
flyer miles, but also for paying phone bills, car hire and other
traveller's services). We have phone companies getting involved in
retail payment systems (e.g. France Telecom's 1.2 million mobile
phones are used to charge payments for goods and services; in
another application one can buy a soft drink by dialling up its
automat from a mobile phone). The Irish telecom operator makes
more money from investing the 'float' the unspent balances issued on
phonecards than they do from actual phone calls. Cable TV becomes
e-commerce networks (Canal Plus in France is providing this service
now; and there will be 29 million set-top boxes operated by smart
cards in Europe alone by 2003, ten times more than there will be shop
terminals). Zambian smart cards already have programmes for ten
different types of currencies. All new PCs produced in the year 2000
have smart-card slots, and new smart cards use the same Multos
platform so that you can download by telephone on it whenever you
need it, for instance a Paris metro or a Eurostar application, a local
library lending programme, launderette payments, healthcare
insurance data or what is needed to change it into a phone card in
Italy. In short, mobile phones, cable TV, computers, smart cards,
complementary currencies and traditional payment systems are
starting to coverage and create a new money world in the process.