A researcher at the University of Cambridge has proposed a new type of virtual money, which is supposed to be more secure and efficient through a unique mechanism, the university said on Wednesday.
Dubbed "S-money", the new framework could ensure completely unforgeable and secure authentication, and allow faster and more flexible responses than any existing financial technology by harnessing the combined power of quantum theory and relativity, according to the university.
The framework, developed by Professor Adrian Kent from the university, can be thought of as secure virtual tokens generated by communications between various points on a financial network, which respond flexibly to real-time data across the world and "materialize" so that they can be used at the optimal place and time.
It allows users to respond to events faster than familiar types of money, both physical and digital, which follow definite paths through space.
"It's a slightly different way of thinking about money: instead of something that we hold in our hands or in our bank accounts, money could be thought of as something that you need to get to a certain point in space and time, in response to data that is coming from lots of other points in space and time," said Kent.
Researchers aim to begin testing the practicality of the framework on a small scale later this year. "S-money" requires very fast computations, but may be feasible with current computing technology, according to the university.
The study has been published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society A.