A recent Bloomberg News report indicates that Danish currency may soon become virtual. That is, no coins and no bills. The economy would rely on electronic money.
Cash, to be sure, would not disappear completely, at least not initially. But it’s fair to ask what would be the point of keeping it in the long run. Denmark is very much past the age of paper and metal. Only 20 percent of transactions are made with cash. And it just represents one third of its money supply.
The technology already exists, courtesy of Bitcoin. Blockchain – the name for the system underpinning electronic currency – would work like a ledger in the case of the e-kroner, which would have a serial number and would be traceable. That would be a massive deterrent for crime.
And counterintuitively, the Danish central bank believes electronic payments today already cost half that cash does. Something is awesome in Denmark.