Max also goes into the other cashless system.

Ah! Can't believe I've been so nose-deep in crypto that I forgot about this: there really two cashless systems battling for supremacy before our very eyes. The cryptocurrency revolution and the centrally planned way that's been steadily accreting into shape since the invention of the credit card.

I'd like to say crypto is winning but the governments aren't going to let it happen without a fight; I have a distrust of Ripple for this very reason (and for that matter, HyperLedger.) I mean, sooner or later, the American government in particular is going to back some coin to the hilt in the name of getting everyone back under their control. I think that will be the flashpoint that either shows the old system how irrelevant it's becoming -- or gives it a key victory over the rest of us by coopting the very technology that was supposed to save us from them and coopting the people who don't know what's going on yet.