Subject: English, asked 1 week, 6 days ago

I. Read the passage given below. 
1. People being what they are get practical about creating their own currency as long as it is honoured. In Africa sea shells were used until the 19th century as money. But gold — practically useless but known for its short supply and lasting quality — has been the most popular non-currency form of money and is a standard for central banks.
2. Now in the age of the Internet and digital technologies, money is undergoing an exciting makeover with talk of virtual currencies, mobile wallets and software apps that pretty much do what gold has been doing for centuries and currency notes have been doing for a while. Technologies such as nearfield communications are being used to make the mobile phone an instrument of payment without the customer having to sign a credit card voucher, thus making it more secure.
3. In general, software apps are being developed to substitute for money in various ways. Some companies like Starbucks allow ‘digital tipping’ of its baristas through a mobile app. Pre-paid cash cards are being used asswipe instruments where customers do not need credit cards or even bank accounts. The NextGen ATM machines will recognize your face through facial biometric technologies.
4. Bitcoin, the most popular virtual currency, started circulating in 2009. Its current market value has been estimated at around $8 billion, about 80,000 transactions occurring daily, according to reputable accounting firms. However, Washington’s Internal Revenue Service ruled that bitcoin is not currency but more like property — and thus subject to capital gains tax.
5. Meanwhile other virtual currencies are taking off — and influencing politics. In Iceland, which saw its banking system more or less wiped out, during the 2008 global financial crisis, there emerged the eurocoin, a new currency, now estimated to be worth $11.37 billion. This currency is aimed at fighting capital controls imposed by the Iceland government.
6. Cryptocurrencies are a very important milestone in this fight for liberty from political control. They bring the hope of a new era of free currencies immune to the meddling of politicians.
7. In addition, money is undergoing an exciting makeover through innovations galore. Telecom companies the world over, for instance, with support from their central banks are offering customers ‘mobile money’ as a service. Another innovation that is much talked about is the mobile wallet and companies are helping their customers carry the equivalent of cash in their handsets much like one carries travellers’ cheques.
8. Thus more and more practical solutions are being spawned across the planet to focus not so much on money’s ‘store of value’ but as a medium of exchange


 

Subject: English, asked 2 weeks, 5 days ago

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