E-money and communities of payments

Abstract

This article examines which are the potential ways to settle transactions by going off the official public e-money. By focussing in particular on the PayPal's and Linden Dollars services, it stresses firstly on the impact of new forms of electronic payments on the banking system. Studying such an impact allows us to spotlight the money creation function held by banks. Secondly, this paper shows that new nearly e-monies promote the emergence on new communities of payment with all the consequences traditionally observed in any community namely network externalities and transaction costs.INTERNET;MONEY; ELECTRONIC PAYMENTS;BANKING;ELECTRONIC MONEY