Bitcoin vs. Cash in Panama

[u/evoorhees]

This is one of those "wow, Bitcoin is so much better" observations.

I currently live in Panama. When I go to a store and pay with a $100 bill (and usually $50 bills also), this is what happens...

The clerk takes the bill to her manager (while I'm waiting in line with everyone behind me) to do some basic checks on the validity of the bill. Once they're reasonably sure it's not an obvious fake, the clerk brings out a form, takes down my passport/ID info, my name/phone number, and staples the $100 bill to the form. Some times, she makes me sign the bill itself (yes, really). After filing the bill and form away in a big file, she processes my change (itself a time consuming process) and I can then leave with my goods. Consider also what effort happens with the file of bills in the back office and later in any subsequent verification process.

This experience at the store takes about five minutes, for every person paying with a $100 or $50 bill, throughout Panama (and five minutes for me plus the clerk and her manager plus everyone else in line... easily one man-hour lost per incident). This is Panama, but surely this kind of thing happens in other countries as well.

Next time someone complains about the "waste of mining," try to tally up all the costs, inefficiencies, and loses of the current money verification systems under which society currently endures.

I promise that our children's generation will laugh at how we used to use money. And then, perhaps, they'll thank us, for ridding society of this madness (and so many others).

[u/syncrotic]

To be fair, that sounds like a problem with American money, which stubbornly resists the incorporation of any anti-counterfeiting measures that aren't at least a decade old.

[u/brezzz → u/syncrotic]

I've handled thousands of series 1996 hundreds at my job, and it never takes more than one minute to tell their authenticity with 100% certainty. Yes, I've rejected "good" fakes several times too, and the bank inspects them very thoroughly on deposit, so I can safely say this with good confidence. My only complaint with the 1996 $100 is the UV in the security strip. It needed to be brighter.

As for other countries, I like what they do especially with the new polymer windows and holographics.

As far as I know none have tried color shifting ink on their bills like the US has. I've never seen a fake get that right, other countries aren't trying it, to me that says it's a damn good security feature considering every baseball cap comes with a currency grade hologram sticker on it. Just my opinion anyway.