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I think the answer, unfortunately, is that paper money will not be with us for much longer. It is inevitable that electronic payment methods replace the archaic system of notes and coins.

However there is a ray of hope. At present, electronic payments are inconvenient for small transactions, for example those which involve individuals. We all use our credit cards when buying from a company, who will have an electronic payment platform in place to facilitate the transaction. As yet, though, we as individuals do not have our own personal system or device that enables us to accept electronic payments - well, not in any useful and common form anyway. Eventually i am sure we will use our mobile phones for payments and sending the equivalent of a text message might constitute a payment, but in the medium term while electronic payment is too inconvenient for small transactions then traditional money will remain.

The other aspect is control. People may be reluctant to give up paper money when the time eventually comes, because going completely 'virtual' with your finances takes the control away from you and places somebody else in control. Would you feel confident placing your trust in banks and possibly Government? We have all seen films set in the future where we are all tagged and logged and monitored, and any attempt to free yourself from the system results in you being forced to drop out of society and live underground. When the individual has no power, and large institutions have all the power, the institutions are king.

In this sense money has far greater importance beyond its simple purpose of enabling transactions - it is fundamental to individual liberty and we give it up at our peril.

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