--which can be traded for lots of good stuff for fairly stable prices.
BTW...... in a recent article in Forbes, there is a rather long discussion of Bitcoin, what it is and how it works.
Bitcoin is truly the purely electronic money devoid of paper representation but apparently a working system for transactions on a truly global scale
the article and Bitcoin description seriously reinforced my understanding of electronic ledgers. fortunately, i had a stash of $$ in the glove box intended for paying tolls so we got our apples.
folks here like to be critical of credit cards and i understand some of the rational for the thinking. However, for about three years now my wife and I have almost quit using cash. we buy almost everything using the card and pay it off with no charges or fees. we get a paper statement each month that is the physical representation of our small electronic ledger and what amounts to a transaction journal for the period.
We screwed up or almost screwed up over the week end at a farmer’s market. We wanted to buy apples and needed cash. We forgot to get some cash from the depository at home.
If my barber got one of those squares that convert a cell phone to a credit card reader, the main reason I carry cash would be gone.