Digital cash replacement from Royal Canadian Mint in the works
Carys Mills, www.thestar.com | April 30, 2013

The Royal Canadian Mint is pushing forward with its “MintChip” prototype, a digital cash replacement aimed at transactions under $10. …

MintChip emulates the positives of cash — payments are anonymous and don’t require a bank — but work electronically. …

I don’t believe the payments can really be anonymous since you and your electronic device can be identified in so many ways.

A real danger is that the government could disable your cash as a method of punishing dissent and forcing compliance, or as a quick-and-easy tax grab to bail out banks.

Notice how this technology is sold as inevitable:

The future is obviously going to be much more electronic.

It’s the “future” if we go along with it. All we’ll get in exchange is a totalitarian nightmare.

The article even suggests we could use this at garage sales. That sounds like they’re targeting their marketing very carefully. Those who have thought about it probably don’t want the government monitoring all of their purchases and personal sales.

What if a government agency suddenly decides that transactions need to be reported one way or another – or else? Overnight it’s no longer “anonymous”. It’s easy to make such laws, especially if the excuse is that the government – or a “too-big-to-fail” – needs more revenue.

Cash is a means of survival for all of us. So what happens when they take away the cash and you are left with an electronic leash around your neck? We should think about alternatives.

The name “MintChip” is incredible marketing and I expect them to start handing them out in the middle of summer with mint chocolate-chip ice cream. They could keep the name when they move to the next phase of tattooing the chip on your arm.