The Internet Revolution

That we have come to the imminent birth of cybercash is rooted not least in the logic of money’s evolution. The history of money is one of its progressive dematerialization, a trend illustrated foremost when metal money gave way to paper money. The latter is now being gradually replaced by an even more immaterial form of money, existing solely as data flows between computer networks. Banks have been allowed to experiment more ambitiously with new money forms and payments systems in the aftermath of money’s piecemeal deregulation. The thrust of monetary innovation has been electronic in nature, using computer and communication technologies to automate the monetary process. Responding here to the dual threat of credit securitization and computerization of finance, the banks have pushed electronic banking and in the process developed a socio-technological infrastructure for electronic money composed of ATMs, plastic cards, ACH fund transfers and electronic billing. All these components of money’s automation render the payment and settlement process cheaper and more efficient than traditional paper money.