Space Money Invented For Space Tourists

An anonymous reader writes "The foreign exchange company Travelex has invented a unit of currency designed to be used in space commerce, the Quasi Universal Intergalactic Denomination (QUID). The QUID is made of a space-qualified plastic, with round edges to prevent injuries in zero gravity. One QUID is equivalent to about 6.25 pounds, 12.50 dollars or 8.68 Euros. Of course, space currencies are already a staple of science fiction, with 'credits' being the most popular."

Money is a sign of poverty.

[Anonymous Coward]

No sufficiently advanced spacefaring civilisation should be using currency. The presence of currency means the scarcity problem hasn't been solved by the civilisation, which means they are poor primitives not worth the bother of Contacting.

Re:Round edges....

[icebrain]

Paper's flammable (or at least, easier to light than plastic).

My question is: how do you fight counterfeiters with plastic money? Seems like it would be relatively easy to fake, compared to metal or newer paper currencies?

QUID?

[Otter]

As long as you have the Q and the U, wouldn't "quatloo" be a more appropriate name?

Re:Money is a sign of poverty.

[MyLongNickName]

Regardless of what progress is made, then scarcity will ALWAYS be an issue. Even if you can convert energy directly to matter and vica-versa, there will always be a need to assign value to things. The only way money will cease to be useful is if there is no longer any interaction between people.

Its Flooz but it is in Space!

[jellomizer]

This reminds me of Flooz an attempt to create a currency for the Internet, as an attempt to cross borders and such.... But the truth is people want their own money either US Dollar, Pound, Euro... They are not going to transfer it for one thing and back again... Especially with those pictures. Heck take paper curancy and put it in your wallet or keep a credit card in your wallet. It is safer there then a bunch of oddly shaped plastic things in your pocket in 0g.

Re:Money is a sign of poverty.

[mrjb]

The presence of currency is not a sign of poverty/scarcity alone. Above all it is a sign of mortality and decay. Time is money- If I work one hour, I get one hour worth of pay. My time is worth something to me because I am mortal- if I would be immortal, I could invest huge amounts of time in learning how to grow all my own vegetables, how to build my own car, how to refine my own fuel etc. But like most people, I don't have enough time in my life to learn all of that, so I take the shortcut: I exchange my time for money, which I then exchange (directly or indirectly) for other people's time again.

Re:Round edges....

[HTH NE1]

Coins also are conductive, which could short out electronics if they float into a panel being serviced. They're also more likely to do damage if left floating when the vessel undergoes sudden acceleration whereas plastic can deform more readily.

Re:Round edges....

[norminator]

The QUID is made of a space-qualified plastic, with round edges to prevent injuries in zero gravity.

What the hell is wrong with paper currency? 0g paper-cuts?

Actually, why do we need physical money in space at all anyway? Why not just have it be all electronic? Wouldn't this be the true space age, and we're still going to be relying on physical currency? It seems like having your money float away would be more of a problem in 0G than getting cut from sharp edges.

Re:Round edges....

[wizardforce]

except that in spacecraft, small free-floating objects are choke hazards.

Re:Round edges....

[Garridan]

This entire body of ridiculous nonsense seems to hinge on assumption that there will be no computers in space. What the hell is wrong with you people?

When Questing through space...

[ShagratTheTitleless]

I prefer buckazoids.

Re:Goddamnit

[Simian Road]

QUID is just as much of an Acronym as yours is for CREDIT.

Quid is British slang for £1. They were just trying to make an acronym to fit the facts like you.

Of course, this may be known to everyone already. If so, then I am getting increasingly redundant and might as well stop typing. But, just in case I'm not just repeating information you already know, I figured I would just inform you about the whole Quid slang thing.

It'll never get off the ground. Literally.

[__aahrlq8808]

With current launch prices at about $10,000 US per pound for manned missions, that's $625/oz, more than the price of gold until very recently. Carrying a few ounces of "change" up with you would cost you quite a bit more than the £6.25 per QUID. That's only for a LEO launch. Make it "Intergalactic" and it would probably cost more than the entire Earth's economy. Quite an investment!