It's not easy to do, and no one has done it yet, but I have no doubt that anonymous and untraceable money is coming soon -- the demand will make it unstoppable.
I rarely use cash. I have EZ pass for tolls and pay everything through Internet or credit card. It is actually great.
The obstacle I see is that much of commerce is moving online. You know, brick and mortar bookstores going out of business because they can’t compete with Amazon, so now there’s no place where you can physically go and buy a book for cash.
So let’s assume for the sake of argument that you can come up with anonymous digital cash that can be used when shopping online. I’ve heard convincing arguments both ways on this issue from people who are evidently smarter than I am. I have no idea, but let’s assume it’s possible. But if you buy something online, it has to be shipped to you, so you have to give them your address. So how can you anonymize the transaction?
The only thing I can think of (and this would take a significant infrastructure commitment, but no more significant than moving all commerce online) would be to have the goods shipped to some pickup site (picture a wall of lockers), and the code you get when you complete your transaction unlocks the locker. You get an email, through some anonymizing intermediary that tells you when the goods have arrived at the locker facility. It should actually save on shipping as goods that now get delivered to 5,000 different houses in town would all be going to the locker facility instead.
Has anyone given this issue any thought, and if so, what are your ideas?