<p>Governments <em>do</em> know how much physical currency has been issued, and have decent ways of estimating how much money is in circulation. And the evidence to date is that digital currencies <em>facilitate</em> crime, including fraud, extortion, blackmail, international transfers of dodgy money, and money laundering.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-13T10:14:49.650Z
2019-09-13T10:14:49.650Z
410 gone
<p>If an appropriate electronic system were implemented governments would know how much money there is in circulation, who has it and if some illegal transaction has been done. </p>

<p>This measure could help reduce crime and remove black money and prevent capital flight to tax-havens. </p>

<p>Why this measure is not being implemented? What would be the consequences of it? Is there a political interest in not taking this measure? I'm looking for remarkable authors who discuss this. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-13T15:44:01.323Z
You have an implicit assumption that the government is trying to help the citizens. There are many counter-examples to this. Check which countries have borders to keep people out and which have borders to keep people in.
zeta-band
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-14T14:44:08.467Z
I’m voting to close this question as opinion-based because it’s question about the motivations of politicians, rather than an economic concept. That said, I would also vote to close it because it asks multiple questions rather than one, and because in its current form it contains an off-topic rant about the CIA and Hollywood.
dismalscience
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-14T18:46:23.140Z
There's a huge privacy concern...
Art
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-15T07:33:12.820Z
I rolled back this question to remove the crazy bit about the September 2001 terror attacks. (Caveat answerer.)
Giskard
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-15T08:54:30.760Z
It's not terribly clear what you're talking about here with "hard currency", but see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cashless_society
fantastic peace and prosperity
<reference-request><currency>
Consequences of removing hard currency
PbxMan
# Consequences of removing hard currency

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-09-13)

If an appropriate electronic system were implemented governments would know how much money there is in circulation, who has it and if some illegal transaction has been done.

This measure could help reduce crime and remove black money and prevent capital flight to tax-havens.

Why this measure is not being implemented? What would be the consequences of it? Is there a political interest in not taking this measure? I'm looking for remarkable authors who discuss this.

**Tags:** reference-request, currency

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: You have an implicit assumption that the government is trying to help the citizens. There are many counter-examples to this. Check which countries have borders to keep people out and which have borders to keep people in.  
> **username_2**: I’m voting to close this question as opinion-based because it’s question about the motivations of politicians, rather than an economic concept. That said, I would also vote to close it because it asks multiple questions rather than one, and because in its current form it contains an off-topic rant about the CIA and Hollywood.  
> **username_3**: There's a huge privacy concern...  
> **username_4**: I rolled back this question to remove the crazy bit about the September 2001 terror attacks. (Caveat answerer.)  
> **username_5**: It's not terribly clear what you're talking about here with "hard currency", but see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cashless_society  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_6 on 2019-09-13. Score: 2

Governments *do* know how much physical currency has been issued, and have decent ways of estimating how much money is in circulation. And the evidence to date is that digital currencies *facilitate* crime, including fraud, extortion, blackmail, international transfers of dodgy money, and money laundering.


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