I’ve gotten better about this in recent years, but earlier today I was sitting in an airport with no cash. That’s normally not a problem as I use credit cards for almost everything, but it does become a problem where I’m in a situation where cash tipping is appropriate. I fished four quarters out of my briefcase, and while it will do tipping with change is almost an imposition as much as it’s a tip.

This got me thinking: how much easier would life be if I could just tip with Bitcoin or Dogecoin or another cryptocurrency simply by tapping someone’s phone or by scanning a QR code on their nametag or by combining the two with a fist bump or something? Or what if I could do something like that with US dollars using PayPal or a Square or something?

Might this be one of the main ways cryptocurrencies gain wider acceptance? Or would it only work as a patch until it became much easier to do it with USD or Euros or another major currency?

Here’s a Quartz article on tipping with cryptocurrencies. Here’s a January article I wrote on Bitcoin for DepositAccounts.com.

Here’s one potential salutary effect that could make great dissertation fodder for an aspiring health economist: lower disease transmission. Currency is notoriously filthy, and making transfers purely electronically would make the world cleaner and less germed-up than it is today.