Interstellar payments

[mb345345]

hi, I'm just trying to understand how currency works across worlds. I'm starting with the traveller wiki on imperial currency
I'm assuming (yes, I know) that a person's comm (or Imperial Standard Credit Card) would carry their currency/ balance, and they would send/ receive Cr with their comm (or card) in-system, and that sooner or later they would have to sync up with an "official" branch of whichever bank they are with. I'm guessing cash would be needed on lower TL, or more distant worlds.
To use stolen comms/ cards to make payments would likely be done by jailbreaking them (I guess) and would sooner or later get locked when this nefarious activity reached the attention of the bank.
Can anyone comment on the validity of these assumptions? Also, can anyone let me know which supplements (any edition) might cover these subjects in more detail. Cos sooner or later my PCs will start trying to use a stolen payment device

 

[Vormaerin]

I can't recall any article that covers more than what is in wiki. The article in JTAS 4 (the original, not the mongoose edition) talks about implementing exchange rates in some detail.

But the reality is that most mentions of payments just act as if high tech payment cards have so much biometrics and instant worldnet verification that hacking them is a specialist project done by cartels, not by some adventurer in their stateroom. For mid tech worlds, it would be much like the current situation, where it is pretty easy to use a payment card once or twice before the bank or owner shuts it down. Low tech worlds are gonna be cash, so you can just steal their cash.

 

[Arkathan]

Check the new Traveller Companion pg 165-166 for some info on how the ship's transponder pays the bills, and hacking the transponder.
In the old edition its pg 158-159.

 

[Condottiere]

Forgery should be relatively easy, so local currency will likely have local elements that would make it difficult.

It's likely that Imperium issued currency would be physical for high denominations, possibly gold pressed latinum.

Loose change would be in a digital form.