As we move into the technological age, many daily tasks have been digitized. It won't be long until our monetary transactions are digital as well, and the conversion has already begun. There are a number of digital currencies that exist now, although none of them have been put in to widespread use. This is for a number of reasons, chief among them are fluctuating exchange rates, illicit activity, and hackers. Bitcoin's value has been extremely inconsistent, with its value increasing by %1000 in just four months (between January and April 2013), and there have already been a few incidences of wire fraud in the network.
However, despite the difficulty to transfer, I believe digital currency will eventually be stable, and we can all live in a happy Utopian society where inflation is controlled and there are no more major financial crises (hopefully). The reason I believe this is possible is because of the digital economies that exist within some online video games (I always have to have a tie-in), especially Team Fortress 2's trading system, Runescape's Grand Exchange, Diablo III's Real Money Auction House, etc. The economies of TF2 and Runescape are relatively stable, despite the constant stream of content being added to the game. I understand that real economies are infinitely more complex than the games, mostly because money can be exchanged two ways and there are things like banks and loans (although there are scrap bankers in TF2). The system will encounter difficulties, and may even put us in another depression, but we will eventually use digital currency.
However, despite the difficulty to transfer, I believe digital currency will eventually be stable, and we can all live in a happy Utopian society where inflation is controlled and there are no more major financial crises (hopefully). The reason I believe this is possible is because of the digital economies that exist within some online video games (I always have to have a tie-in), especially Team Fortress 2's trading system, Runescape's Grand Exchange, Diablo III's Real Money Auction House, etc. The economies of TF2 and Runescape are relatively stable, despite the constant stream of content being added to the game. I understand that real economies are infinitely more complex than the games, mostly because money can be exchanged two ways and there are things like banks and loans (although there are scrap bankers in TF2). The system will encounter difficulties, and may even put us in another depression, but we will eventually use digital currency.