[extropy-chat] re: The Economist 14-page special on oil

[Adrian Tymes]

--- Mike Lorrey <mlorrey at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Online spends are quick and painless. Spends in
> the real world are tiresome. Whoever makes keeping and spending metal
> holdings as easy as, say, a debit card, is going to make a mint.....
> ;)

Sounds like a possibly simple problem to tackle, if you've got a
reputable metal holding organization.  Pitch it as a new type of
debit-account-only bank, and strike a deal with Visa or MasterCard to
be able to start issuing cards.  Downplay the fact that you're
investing in metal instead of in cash, but generally hide customers'
accounts behind the account number.  Probably limit non-sale
authorizations to 95% or so of balance, to protect against fluctuations
in price making a previously granted auth no longer good a few days
later (on top of the usual protections against auth then withdraw then
process auth).  Gives a new meaning to the term "gold card"...

E-commerce.  It's everywhere you want to be.