Naseerah Nanabhai

26-05-2021

Digital money, also called digital currency, refers to any form of money or payment in an electronic form only. Digital money lacks a tangible form such as a bill, check, or coins and is accounted for and transferred using electronic codes in computers.

Countries that have issued their own cryptocurrencies include Ecuador, China, Senegal, Singapore and Tunisia. Other countries such as Estonia, Japan, Russia and Sweden are also looking to launch their own national cryptocurrencies.

Some benefits of using these digital currencies include lower transaction costs and the ability to make payments at any time. While these may be appealing, the risks around security, payment beneficiary identification, and currency volatility raise concerns.

Like any standard fiat currency, digital currencies can be used to purchase goods and pay for services. As they have all intrinsic properties like physical currency, they allow for instantaneous transactions that can be seamlessly executed for making payments across borders when connected to supported devices and networks.

As technology becomes increasingly prominent, payments are becoming more digital, resulting in less tangible money. Most experts believe that the use of the internet for electronic transactions and the use of digital cash will rapidly increase over the next ten to twenty years, but that a fully integrated international unit of currency approach will not happen any time soon.