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This is part one in a three part series on the introduction to online and digital currency. Today's article will only discuss the bottom two levels of this currency pyramid. Next week we will add a few new sections and complete the series. We will try to explain what makes up each category or layer and the special differences between each group. Today's topics: (1) Online Banking (2) Online Payment Systems

The bottom layer of our pyramid and also the largest is named online banking. Anyone with a computer or a bank account should know at least a little bit of information about online banking.

Internet online banking is transacted through licensed US banks - which are of course government regulated financial institutions. These banks using customer deposited money issue electronic units' for their online banking facilities (software). This personal Internet banking access allows account holders to spend those units or transfer them over the Internet to other parties which participate in the same type of Internet Online Banking system.

Any retail Internet business which also has an online Internet banking account can spend, transfer or pay any other party online from the comfort of their home personal computer. From this level of our pyramid, to pay or receive funds, you must be an account holder at a participating bank which offers this type of online banking software.

The term units' is being used here to clarify the actual denomination of the payment. In the US, online banking clients pay bills in US Dollars but banks in other countries will be using different denominated units' in local currency like Yen, Euro or Malaysian Ringgit.

It is important to note that almost all of these online transactions can be reversed or refunded for various reasons included in the bank's terms of service (the fine print). This bottom layer of the online currency pyramid is highly regulated in each jurisdiction by both Federal, local and private authorities.

Here are a few examples of daily online banking transactions. John Q. Public logs on to the Internet and enters his Wells Fargo Bank online account. From here he transfers funds (USD Units) paying his mortgage, phone and electric bill. Later that day, perhaps his wife Jane P. logs into the same account and pays their State Income Tax, Local Real Estate Tax and annual US Federal Income Tax.

Online banking is also available for corporate business. This bottom level is the largest level of our online currency pyramid and transacts

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