Any form of payment that only exists in electronic form is referred to as digital money, also known as a digital currency. The most distinguishing feature of digital money is that it has no physical counterpart, such as a bill, check, or coin, and is instead only tracked and transferred using electronic codes.
HOW IS DIGITAL CURRENCY USED IN EVERYDAY LIFE?
Although you might find the idea a little perplexing, it truly is not. Let’s imagine you head to your neighborhood coffee shop for a cappuccino to get you through the day, but you don’t have much money. You would now proceed to swipe your debit or credit card. The cash would probably arrive in the shop between a few days and a few weeks, but never right away.
Now, if you were to utilize digital currency for that purchase, the money would actually move once you used your digital currency app and inserted your smartphone into the scanner at the store. It would appear instantly in the store owner’s digital wallet app, where he or she could use it to make an instantaneous purchase of something else, exactly like cash. The store owner wouldn’t have to wait for Visa or Mastercard to take any action or reimburse them for any costs.
Digital currencies can be used to make purchases and pay for services just like any other kind of fiat money. They enable immediate transactions that may be carried out smoothly in order to make payments across borders and have all the inherent characteristics of actual currency.
BENEFITS OF DIGITAL CURRENCY
The freedom to make payments at any time and decreased transaction fees are some advantages of using these digital currencies. The dangers related to security, payment recipient identification, and currency volatility do pose questions even though they may seem enticing.
People occasionally may not know who is on the other side of a transaction because money is not physically transferred, which gives hackers the chance to gain sensitive information and defraud people. Cybercriminals are constantly looking for new ways to attack payment systems, despite significant attempts to improve payment security.
DIGITAL MONEY VS CRYPTOCURRENCIES: WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?
Digital currency and cryptocurrencies are different because digital currency is a fiat currency format, Digital currency is used in every online transaction; once you withdraw money from a bank or ATM, that digital currency is converted into usable cash. Cryptocurrencies are developed on the blockchain. The two have unequal volatility and fluctuations as a result.
SPREAD OF DIGITAL MONEY
Presently, nations including Ecuador, China, Senegal, Singapore, and Tunisia have issued cryptocurrency. Several other nations, including Estonia, Japan, Russia, and Sweden, are planning to introduce their own national digital currencies. While the US has not yet adopted the reform of digital money, it is concerned that doing so might jeopardize the dollar’s dominance around the world.
With the rise of technology, there is a decrease in the use of physical currency as more payments are made digitally. Over the next ten years, experts predict that the use of digital cash and the internet for electronic transactions will both skyrocket. A fully integrated worldwide unit of currency strategy won’t materialize anytime soon, though.
ALSO READ : Google wallet is now available to South Africans
