In the commercial sector, smart cards are being developed to act as stored value cards, or electronic purses.
Small change is big bucks.
Over the next five years, credit card companies and banks will launch a takeover raid on small change, attempting to grab control of physical currency and invest themselves with the right to track, load fees onto, and earn interest off every purchase we make. Anonymous disposable cards with a set amount of electronic money loaded on to them, similar to telephone cards. These might be purchased at newsagents or from vending machines. When the value on the cards is spent they will usually be thrown away. These cards will not carry name and address details or a photograph, but customers will still be able to re-charge the value on the card from their bank or credit accounts.