I'm in the UK and I've just been away with work to Germany for a couple days (less glamorous than it sounds). There were numerous occasions through the trip where I thought 'wow this would have been easier if a common / shared token was used'.
An example was a colleague wanting to buy cigarettes fairly late at night. We were in a barren area so no shops and the nearby service station had closed. There was, however, a machine in the hotel selling cigarettes that took cash or card. He didn't have any Euros on him, his card kept failing (bank refusing as he hadn't logged he was travelling) and no-one was around to sort another option. So he got nowhere.
For the benefit of the discussion, imagine for a second there exists a universally-used app with a single cryptocurrency which has solved all of the known issues with this concept.
Before you leave the country, you don't have to tell your bank you're going elsewhere and don't have to sort any foreign currency to take.
When you're there, you can buy any goods or services as normal just by tapping the app with zero hassle (let's say exchange rate implications were minimal).
At dinner you could pay using the app, however it gives you single button options for the gratuity you add on top. It would also split the bill for you should you need, maybe even by scanning something at the till which itemises everything for your group. Once sorted its tap away, amounts changed, payment given.
Using vending machines like the cigarette one mentioned just becomes a straightforward tap and away you go.
This could even extend further but I won't rattle more off. The fact is everyone is on the same page, everyone is happy, removes so much of the faff.
I know it's never going to happen. The idea of a token solving the known issues or even being agreed between all countries is a pipe dream. But what a nice thought all the same.
submitted by /u/KnackeredParrot
[link] [comments]