Will dollar bills be replaced by Bill dollars? “Today we have a zillion different ways of doing financial transactions. There’s cash, checks, credit cards, debit cards, wiring money, traveler’s checks … each of these has a particular point. We’re going to see that much diversity in digital money.”
Predictor: Myhrvold, Nathan
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article for Wired magazine on e-cash, Steven Levy quotes Nathan Myhrvold of Microsoft. Levy writes: ”Inevitably there’s Microsoft. For months, it had been quietly organizing a digital money group, presumably to put its own stamp on the emerging phenomena of digital transactions. But things went into overdrive in October, when it laid out $1.5 billion worth of stock to snatch up Intuit, Inc. a financial software company which was determinately moving towards automating money. Along with the buyout, Scott Cook, Intuit’s president, became Microsoft’s executive vice president of electronic commerce – reporting directly to chairman Gates, begging the question, will dollar bills be replaced by Bill dollars? The road to digital cash is not so much a smooth transitional path but a multi-lane cloverleaf with infuriating turnoffs, circles, and dead ends. ‘A lot of people assume there’s going to be a single form of digital money,’ says Microsoft’s chief technical wizard, Nathan Myhrvold. ‘Today we have a zillion different ways of doing financial transactions. There’s cash, checks, credit cards, debit cards, wiring money, traveler’s checks … each of these has a particular point. We’re going to see that much diversity in digital money.'”
Biography:Nathan Myhrvold worked at Microsoft Corporation as chief technology officer in the 1990s. Myhrvold was responsible for the Advanced Technology and Research Group, which had a budget of over $2 billion per year. Earlier, he was group vice president of Applications and Content, which included a number of Microsoft divisions, including Desktop Applications, Consumer, Research and Microsoft On Line Systems. (Technology Developer/Administrator.)
Date of prediction: December 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Economic structures
Subtopic: E-cash
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: E-Money (That’s What I Want)
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.12/emoney_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney