This type of switcheroo has been performed before. Once upon a time, U.S. currency was backed by gold reserves, but the deceptively-named privately-owned non-tax-paying 'Federal Reserve' Corporation stopped this practice long ago. Since that time, money has been worth whatever the Reserve says it's worth, and what people believe it to be worth. So since money has no real value, it's already virtual, right? What difference does it make if we do away with physical currency entirely?

Well, to some folks, the coming about of the cashless society is proof positive that the Beast system, as predicted in the Book of Revelations, is here and in effect. They believe that you won't be able to buy or sell goods or even be able to functionally exist in society without being assigned a special identifying number or mark. Given the increasing popularity of biometric ID devices and the push for national ID cards, this isn't exactly an unlikely scenario.