[Digital cash] will become ubiquitous – it’s the cheapest way of moving money around.
Predictor: Birch, Dave
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article for Wired magazine on e-cash, Steven Levy quotes Dave Birch of Hyperion. Levy writes: ”Mondex, a consortium led by two British banks, will roll out its digital-cash system, involving an estimated 40,000 cardholders, to the public in Swindon, England, next year. Its creators envision the system spreading worldwide, as people slip their smart cards into special phones and wallets to conduct cash-like, tamper-proof transactions, even across borders. ‘[Digital cash] will become ubiquitous – it’s the cheapest way of moving money around,’ says Dave Birch, spokesperson for the project’s consultants, Hyperion. There’s the state of Ohio which has in the works a smart-card system for replacing welfare checks with electric money. At Mankato State University in Mankato, Minnesota, students are issued ‘MavCards,’ to be used not just for MCI long-distance calls and dining-hall meals but for cash services like photocopying, vending, and laundry.”
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: Lusk, James T.