A patron tries to pay with cash at the West 40th Street location of Dos Toros Taqueria, only to learn that only credit or debit cards are accepted. The Two Forks chain also does not take cash. Visa recently offered select merchants a $10,000 reward to switch away from cash transactions. “I was shocked,” said David, a 66-year-old accountant who popped into Dig Inn for lunch a few hours before Ms. Bryant. (He declined to give his surname because “I’m a private person.”) “This is very unusual to me.” “My reaction was ‘Jesus, a New York City restaurant that records all its revenue? How can they stay in business?’ ”the credit card companies, who make a commission on every credit card purchase, applaud the trend. Visa recently offered select merchants a $10,000 reward for depriving customers of their right to pay by the method of their choice.He was told he could not pay with cash. He handed over his credit card. There was a problem with the card reader, or maybe the Wi-Fi. In any case, the machine was down. The cashier apologized and said the ice cream was on the house. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Levine <johnl@iecc.com> Date: Tue, Dec 26, 2017 at 3:53 PM Subject: [Cryptography] Two articles on what is and isn't money To: cryptography@metzdowd.com NY Times: Cash Might Be King, but They Don't Care As restaurants in New York stop accepting cash, they are surprised how few people care, or even notice. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/25/nyregion/no-cash-money-cashless-credit-de... FT: Israeli regulator becomes latest to crack down on bitcoin Israel bars bitcoin trading companies from Tel Aviv stock exchange because "Nobody knows what stands behind this." On the other hand, they're considering a digital shekel for mobile payments. http://click.notice.ft.com/f/a/Z3B0L0Bul4__oT5GvASd6g~~/AAAAAQA~/RgRcJTWpP0R... R's, John _______________________________________________ The cryptography mailing list cryptography@metzdowd.com http://www.metzdowd.com/mailman/listinfo/cryptography