Money, Payment and Technology: The Legal Challenge

Having been distinguishable for centuries, money and payment mingled when payment instruments and credit to a bank account became money. This happened in a process governed by the post-medieval law of negotiable instruments. Subsequently, payment of commercial bank money by cheque has evolved to payment by credit, debit and stored-value cards, as well as to e-money and credit transfers. Parallelly, with the emergence of Fintech, the paper banknote is now in the process of evolving into a digital coin. Technology has been a leading force in the evolution of money and payment mechanisms and the emergence of a unified branch of law governing them.