1 Spanners: {checking a console} Hmmm. Looks like Iki Piki and Serron just spent a lot of money.
2 Paris: You're keeping tabs on other crew members' accounts?! That's sneaky and underhanded! How can you do that with a clear conscience?!
3 Spanners: {looking at the console again} They spent your money.
4 Paris: Show me how you do that!

Since when do roleplaying characters spend their own money when any other option is available?

---

2017-07-09 Rerun commentary: I discovered the other day about Dynamic Intelligent Currency Encryption (DICE), which is a proposed technology to embed micro-RF ID tags in every single banknote of some currency, so that each banknote can be individually tracked and identified. The idea is that there is a central database containing tracking information for every banknote, and that if any note is stolen or used in a crime, it can be individually cancelled, so that it can't be spent.

It's like banknote serial numbers on steroids. Imagine if every time anyone spent a banknote, it had to be scanned and checked against the central bank to see if it was a valid serial number first. And the central bank could cancel any banknote it deemed "illegal" at any time.

Now, while this would have some big advantages in terms of crime prevention, it would also be a privacy nightmare. If it was ever put into practice it's possible that the public would react so negatively that it would make the cash system unworkable.

Which would be quite fun to see. As long as you lived outside the world economy.