Electronic currency

Electronic currency is also known as electronic cash, e-money, electronic money, digital money, digital cash or digital currency. It refers to a system that allows an individual to pay for goods or services by transmitting a number from one computer to another. So an electronic currency is simply a unit of exchange by using the Internet.

As almost every individual knows of E-commerce, and, there is a consumer to spend money online therefore electronic payment systems are construed. Up to now, there are many countries offering the ways of transferring money by using Internet. One of the successful cases is occurred in Singapore. It had implemented the electronic money for its public transportation system such as commuter, buses, etc.

E-money requires no complicated software and it allows the transfer of electronic cash to anyone through an e-mail address. Some of the banking business industries which are in biggest names are involved in using e-money. These include Bank One and Well Fargo. Of course there are also some of the small companies using e-money system. E-money is actually designed for the exchange of funds between the individuals. Moreover, some of the e-money providers allow commercial activities for a small fee towards college students, children or making small monetary gifts. The e-money technology can also be used to pay someone, or collect funds from someone who needs to pay you. The payments you made are using your credit card or with your offline bank account.

The electronic currency system will lead to some limitations as well. A major disadvantage to electronic currency is fraud. If a customer has lost or misplaced his private key, a perpetrator would use it to withdraw funds. As a result, that customer would have to bear the payments because the bank did not know about the case. Besides, the hacker will know about the recipient of the message of the owner if the security code is broken and the message is intercepted, the hacker will have intention on stealing away the recipient of the message.

Besides, another major concern is that counterfeiters could create their own personal coins of e-cash as it is just a piece of money that is very easy to duplicate. Therefore, it is difficult to distinguish from real money and impossible to detect. Additionally, only the consumers with PCs are able to use it, while those without would not use it. E-cash may be less secure than bank money. The money which stored on a PC will be lost if the system crashes. For instance, money stored on an electronic wallet could be lost forever should the card is damaged.