Editing 2335: Photo Deposit

{{comic
| number    = 2335
| date      = July 20, 2020
| title     = Photo Deposit
| image     = photo_deposit.png
| titletext = It's okay, they scan the serial numbers and make sure you can't deposit the same bill more than once.
}}

==Explanation==
Some mobile banking apps allow users to deposit {{w|Cheque|check}}s through the app, by photographing the check and entering the relevant information. The comic parodies this imagining a bank that allowed you to "deposit" {{w|banknote}}s via a mobile app, by taking photos of them. The caption implies that this attempt is predictably disastrous, as it's shut down within six hours.

Checks are essentially documents instructing a bank to disburse funds from a given account to a specified recipient, hence electronic transfers make sense: the recipient's bank can transfer the image to the depositor's bank and the funds can be transferred between the two. The check could only be deposited by the recipient, and any attempt to deposit the check repeatedly would be refused (and potentially subject the recipient to legal action).  By contrast, cash functions as a {{w|Bearer_instrument|bearer instrument}}, where physical possession of the banknotes effectively constitutes possession of the funds. Hence, depositing cash electronically would make little sense, as the depositor would still have the notes (and therefore the money), and the bank would not. Such a transaction would enrich the depositor at the expense of the bank.

The title text states that the app recognizes the {{w|serial number}}s on the bills and prevents users from depositing them multiple times. However, this would not solve the fundamental problem. Clients could still deposit all of their cash and retain ownership of it.  And they could then exchange those bills for different ones and deposit the new bills, repeating the process indefinitely (which explains Cueball's comment about "a lucrative six hours"). It is possible that Megan and Cueball are deliberately depositing the same bills to each of their accounts, given their close proximity. 

The only way such a system could work is if every entity that accepted cash payments or deposits operated from a common database, functioning in real-time, which kept track of each transaction, and disallowed any further use of that specific bill. This would have the ultimate impact of making cash virtually useless, as once every bill had been spent once, all future transactions would need to be electronic (unless there were a system in place to physically distribute the appropriate bills to the appropriate people, which would defeat the entire point). Such a system is essentially the basis for {{w|cryptocurrency}}, which uses a crowd-sourced system to track the movement of money. But such a system would require virtually universal acceptance in a given country, and could not be implemented by a single bank. 

In addition, the system would be highly vulnerable to {{w|Counterfeit money|counterfeiting}}. Common anti-counterfeiting measures include using distinctive materials and fine details, both of which are difficult to duplicate well enough to fool a human. Smartphone cameras, on the other hand, can't distinguish texture and may not have sufficient resolution to make out that level of detail. Counterfeiters could produce and deposit an almost unlimited number of bills, then destroy them, leaving little evidence of their crime.

As a result, this system would be inherently unworkable, and the party that would suffer from it would be the bank that implemented it in the first place. Which makes it realistic that, if a bank were to implement such a scheme, they'd very quickly realize their error and put an end to it. This is why the bank took down this system.

This comic is also related to {{w|fractional reserve banking}}, where banks create money through lending the same money multiple times.

==Transcript==
:[Megan is holding a banknote up in one hand, while she is taking a picture of it with her smartphone held in the other hand. A starburst near the phone indicates the sound this makes. She is standing with her back to Cueball, who faces away from her. He is holding a banknote down by his side in one hand, while he is looking at his smartphone which he holds up in the other hand. From Cueball's phone there is a starburst from which a line goes up above him to indicate what is on the screen.]
:Megan's phone: <small>''Click''</small>
:Cueball's phone: Deposit accepted!

:[Caption below panel:]
:After a lucrative six hours for us, our bank removed the new feature in their app that let you deposit cash by taking a picture of it.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]
[[Category:Photography]]