Actually,it's almost a staple of science fiction books going all the way back to the 30's. They all seem to call it "credits". Everybody always goes to a machine and uses their "intergalactic ID card" to transfer "credits" from one account to another. Of course,the sci-fi books saw credits as a neccessary thing for trans-solar system banking,not as a means of gooberment control. The thing is,it can't be one without being the other.