The Israeli leader was terrified at the prospect of political and economic isolation. However, the prospect of a peace treaty delighted him, and he accepted with alacrity, subject only to Knesset approval. The proposal to begin using the currency of the world seemed a small price to pay for the promise of peace. Little did he know what was coming next.

FOR THREE YEARS, TAURIQ HADDAD had worked with his counterparts in the major industrialized nations to create a system to control global credit. Much of the groundwork had been laid for him by the scientific advances of the 1990s. Computing power had accelerated to such a degree that by the end of the decade, a small desktop computer could store more data and perform more simultaneous calculations than could previously be accomplished by a multimillion-dollar mainframe system that would fill an entire room.

Oddly enough, it was a celebrated television commercial from the late 1990s that was often credited with fueling the microminiaturization craze that led to these new developments. That commercial for a new generation of high-tech software had been written and produced at JPT Worldwide by Carl Throneberry based on a concept that, at that time, was entirely theoretical. The commercial only hinted at what was to come: the new devices actually achieved what the ads had unwittingly promised.

But for the first time in history, mankind had in its possession equipment powerful enough and fast enough to monitor the earnings, spending, and the entire wealth of six billion people. It was in 1995 that a consortium of banks introduced to their customers a smart-cash card. The concept was simple. A balance was coded into a computer strip on the card by the issuing bank. Each time there was a purchase, the check-out machine would reduce the balance by the appropriate amount. When the balance reached zero, the card could be renewed at the bank or by an automatic teller machine.

With this arrangement, a customer could leave larger balances in his principal bank account and use the cash card instead of hard currency. The system pleased customers, but it meant that the anonymity of purchasing by cash was eliminated. The advantage of the cash card was obvious. There were no verification mechanisms, no cumbersome receipts to sign. And, there was no cash for businesses to count or have stolen. With each transaction, the amount was automatically debited from the individual’s account by the bank’s computer and credited to the account of the business establishment recording the sale.

This technology from the last century seemed like a boon to a man with the vision and the aspirations of Tauriq Haddad. But his own plan moved well beyond this point. He planned for there to be one standard for pricing, but no currency. The wealth of each individual would still be recorded in his or her name, but approval of the monetary authorities would be required for every transfer of funds from individual accounts.