Comment by bloodbath, Ph.D.
Anthologica Universe Atlas / Users / bloodbath, Ph.D. / OMG EVEN MORE MONEY / Comment on OMG EVEN MORE MONEY at 2015-11-21 11:27:22 by Jipí / Comment by bloodbath, Ph.D.

8 years ago
Thanks!

The "payable to the bearer" clause actually has appeared on a lot of more recent money, though, with the transition to fiat currencies, it's mostly symbolic more than anything. The last series of Italian lira notes said "payable to the bearer on sight", and current British pound sterling notes say "I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of ____________ pounds", a nod to the time when the banknotes were convertible for cash. Now, however, they're simply backed by the strength of the country and economy. So a relic of sorts.

The South Korea reference actually is that electronic payments are extremely common there, but it seems moreso with the younger generation which has fairly quickly adopted paying by mobile phone, for example. The older generations, though, still seem to prefer cold, hard cash for most day-to-day things, which necessitated the introduction of a 50 thousand won note back in 2009 or so (before that, the highest denomination was KRW 10000, which amounted to about US$8-$10).