US Government Announces the e-Dollar

Washington (NBp) - For the past two years, many people believed that the United States was behind on the creation of digital money. Some European countries have been using smart cards for years already. With one announcement, however, the US has jumped to the forefront of digital currency.

This file is one of the first e-Dollars produced. Please do not copy it, because it is NBp's money.

"Today I present the future of money to the country and the world: the e-Dollar," announced President Clinton this morning. "The Digital Age is here, and I want the American People to be the first up the onramp of the Information Superhighway!"

Due to the high cost of printing money, the US is planning to quickly phase out the paper dollar in favor of the e-Dollar.

NBp interviewed Howard K. Polk, Deputy Assistant Underdirector of the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury and creator of the e-Dollar.

HKP: The e-Dollar is fabulous! It costs absolutely nothing to produce and lasts forever. I created it, you know. So there should be a good bonus in it for me!

NBp: Please wait for us to ask a question first.

HKP: Sorry. But, it's just so cool that the others in the Treasury went along with it! They even let me design the money! They wouldn't let me put my face on it, though.

NBp: The Treasury has put a lot of effort into making money impossible to counterfeit or duplicate. What have you done to protect the e-Dollar.

HKP: Basically, we used the same kinds of techniques. We couldn't use a magnetic stripe or small fibers within the image, of course. But, we did make the image complex (for example, we warped George Washington's face). Plus, each e-Dollar has a unique serial number.

NBp: But can't someone just make duplicates of the file?

HKP: Maybe... if they're really good. But, it would have the same serial number. That's a dead giveaway, right?

NBp: And how are you supposed to use an e-Dollar at a store?

HKP: You could either print it out, if you have a color printer, or email it to the store before you go there. Or, maybe put it on the web or something. I don't know how that stuff works.

To test out this new form of money, NBp decided to visit a common retail establishment (a "burger joint" in layman's terms). We called them up to find out the email address that we could send our e-Dollars to. They did not know, so we printed out the eDollars and drove down to the restaurant. We placed our order which came to $5.63. We handed six e-Dollars to the clerk and managed to eat a handful of french fries before they took the food away and asked us to leave.

It looks like some kinks still need to be worked out of the e-Dollar system. However, the government says that it is the future, and we have no choice but to believe them.