Have been preparing another talk with a bank later this month and so am relooking at the fast-changing attitudes to virtual currencies: In the 2010 Future Agenda programme we highlighted how local currencies are making inroads in certain towns; how bartering is making a strong comeback; how mobile airtime is increasingly be used as a surrogate for real currency in parts of Africa; and how developments such as Bitcoin, bartercard and Facebook credits are aiming at building on the success of eBay’s Paypal in becoming the default mechanism for currency transfer online. One of the issues that banks seem most interested in is the degree to which a global virtual currency could impact transactions, operate outside the tax systems and be independent of real currency exchange. [Read more...]