New Money, Old Problems

Would-be innovators in the virtual currency business face a problem other entrepreneurs in the Internet ecosystem also have faced, but with even-higher obstacles. 

The problem is that there now are many ways "money" or its equivalents can be exchanged between people, and lots of new ways people can use "banking" functions involving the receipt or sending of money. 

But what can be done, in terms of technology, is not always legal. Banking, everywhere, is among the most regulated of all industries, and always is viewed from a "national interest" perspective.


"A digital payment can move between two people as they pass each other on the street, or between two people on opposite sides of the Earth, with no difference between the character of the two payments,” says Erik Voorhees, a Bitcoin entrepreneur who works at Bitinstant. 

So technology alone will not dictate how "money" and "banking" will change. Regulators will be quite vigilant about protecting existing ways of doing things, not specifically to safeguard incumbent business interests, but everywhere to "protect the public."

One might note that mobile payments already have run into a "post-hype" period where muted expectations will be the rule. Virtual money or virtual currency has not yet even emerged into a full-blown hype phase.