Electronic currency

Electronic Currency (also known as e-money, electronic cash, electronic currency, digital money, digital cash or digital currency) refers to money or scrip which is exchanged only electronically. Electronic currency also can be defined as monetary value, as represented by a claim on the issuer, which is:stored on an electronic device, issued on receipt of funds and, accepted as a means of payment by persons other than the issuer.

Electronic money is therefore a prepaid means of payment, that can be used to make payments to multiple persons, where the persons are distinct legal or natural entities. It can be card based or account based and used entirely online.

While electronic money has been an interesting problem for cryptography (see for example the work of David Chaum and Markus Jakobsson), to date, use of digital cash has been relatively low-scale. One rare success has been Hong Kong's Octopus card system, which started as a transit payment system and has grown into a widely used electronic cash system. Singapore also has an electronic money implementation for its public transportation system (commuter trains, bus, etc), which is very similar to Hong Kong's Octopus card and based on the same type of card (FeliCa). There are also one implementation is in the Netherlands, known as Chipknip.

Advantages

Banks offer many services to the customer that transfer funds, contribute to their retirement plans and offer a variety of other services without having to handle physical cash or checks. Customers do not have to wait in lines and this provides a lower-hassle environment.

Debit cards and online bill payments allow immediate transfer of funds from an individual's personal account to a business's account without any actual paper transfer of money. This offers a great convenience to many people and businesses alike.

Disadvantages

Although many benefit to electronic currency, there are also many disadvantages. These include fraud, failure of technology, possible tracking of individuals and loss of human interaction.

Fraud over digital cash has been a pressing issue in recent years. Hacking into bank accounts and illegal retrieval of banking records has led to a widespread invasion of privacy and has promoted identity theft.

refrence:
http://www.solarnavigator.net/venture_capital/electronic_money_transfers.htm
https://www.amazines.com/Electronic_Currency_related.html