Penny Problems

I guess - but there are always externalities in any transaction. If you're paying cash, somebody has to pay to haul that cash around, never mind the cost of minting or printing it in the first place.

It seems to me that moving digital bits around should almost always be cheaper and more efficient than moving physical tokens or stores of value. Of course, the two have different failure modes (being hacked vs. being robbed/burgled, etc). And if the electronic clearinghouses don't have meaningful competition, they can seek rent as they please.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.