[ohgodplsno]

Cash has serial numbers for traceability, and is emitted by a central bank. That's a big chunk of a financial institution right there. Additionally, if you pay for $50, the state won't give a damn, because it's $50. Pay a company $10k in cash and every alarm will go off and the transaction will have to be notified to a financial institution. Tracfin in Europe for example, etc.

So, no, cash isn't entirely separated from financial institutions.

[lazide]

I didn’t say cash didn’t require institutions somewhere. Cash creation (physical), and cash into and out of the system requires institutions.

Cash transactions do not, so spending, receiving, and if one is crazy storage can be done without institutions.

That hypothetical $10k transaction for instance only sets alarm bells off if it’s an abnormal transaction for an individual account.

Someone doing a cash business is going to do stuff like that so much, it’s a drop in the bucket and no one cares. Coin shops, check cashing places, certain types of convenience stores and restaurants, etc.

If they manage the cash themselves instead of a cash drop, such as if they are a dispensary and are unbanked, a given dollar bill can circulate a very long time before touching a bank, depending on which parts of the economy it touches.

The reality is it isn’t super hard to launder funds apparently, so it ends up back in a bank somewhere soon, but with the intermediary transactions hidden.

[biztos]

> Pay a company $10k in cash

Do you mean bank transfer?

Let’s say I buy a legal widget for $10K and I pay cash and I don’t plan to treat it as a business expense. On my side, I’m done, and any alarm that might be invoked is the problem of the seller, and probably dependent on their compliance with weakly enforced regulations.

For some classes of widget I might want a receipt, but definitely not for all. You can easily spend that much on a birthday dinner with your friends, if that’s your thing.

I don’t think anybody is arguing that cash is “entirely separated from financial institutions” but — even above $10K — it allows for the possibility (not the guarantee) of transaction privacy.

[adolph]

That reminds me of the excellent Econtalk episode: Devon Zuegel on Inflation, Argentina, and Crypto

Devon Zuegel talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the crazy world of money and finance in Argentina. When inflation is often high and unpredictable, people look for unusual ways to hold their savings. And when banks are unreliable because of public policy, people look for unusual ways to keep their savings safe and to make financial transactions. Welcome to Argentina, where Zuegel finds surprising applications of cryptocurrency for solving problems.

https://www.econtalk.org/devon-zuegel-on-inflation-argentina...