Você está na página 1de 2

Electronic money (also known as e-currency, e-money, electronic cash, electronic

currency, digital money, digital cash or digital currency) refers to money or scrip
which is only exchanged electronically. Typically, this involves the use of computer
networks, the internet and digital stored value systems. Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)
and direct deposit are all examples of electronic money. Also, it is a collective term for
financial cryptography and technologies enabling it.

While electronic money has been an interesting problem for cryptography (see for
example the work of David Chaum and Markus Jakobsson), to date, the use of e-money
has been relatively low-scale. One rare success has been Hong Kong's Octopus card
system, which started as a transit payment system and has grown into a widely used
electronic money system. London Transport's Oyster card system remains essentially a
contactless pre-paid travelcard. Two other cities have implemented functioning electronic
money systems. Very similar to Hong Kong's Octopus card, Singapore has an electronic
money program for its public transportation system (commuter trains, bus, etc.), based on
the same type of (FeliCa) system. The Netherlands has also implemented an electronic
money system known as Chipknip, which is based upon the same system in Hong Kong..

A number of electronic money systems use Contactless payment transfer in order to


facilitate easy payment and give the payee more confidence in not letting go of their
electronic wallet during the transaction.

Electronic money systems


In technical terms, electronic money is an online representation, or a system of debits and
credits, used to exchange value within another system, or within itself as a stand alone
system. In principle this process could also be done offline.

Occasionally, the term electronic money is also used to refer to the provider itself. A
private currency may use gold to provide extra security, such as digital gold currency.
Some private organizations, such as the United States armed forces use independent
currencies such as Eagle Cash.
Future progression
The main focuses of electronic money development are:

1. being able to use it through a wider range of hardware such as secured credit
cards
2. linked bank accounts that would generally be used over an internet means, for
exchange with a secure micropayment system such as in large corporations
(PayPal).

[edit] Issues
Although electronic money can provide many benefits—such as convenience and
privacy, increased efficiency of transactions, lower transaction fees, and new business
opportunities with the expansion of economic activities on the Internet—there are many
potential issues with the use of e-money. The transfer of digital currencies raises local
issues such as how to levy taxes or the possible ease of money laundering. There are also
potential macro-economic effects such as exchange rate instabilities and shortage of
money supplies (total amount of electronic money versus the total amount of real money
available, basically the possibility that digital cash could exceed the real cash available).

Another issue is related to computer crime, in which computer criminals may actually
alter computer databases to steal electronic money or by reducing an account's amount of
electronic money. One way to resolve these issues is by implementing cyberspace
regulations or laws that regulate the transactions and watch for signs of fraud or deceit.

As recently discussed by several scientists and economists a society highly dependent on


electronic money could make the whole monetary system vulnerable towards massive
solar storms equivalent to for example the Carrington event of 1859.[3][4]

Você também pode gostar