Bruce Sterling, science-fiction and tech journalist - and Lift's "big thinker in residence" - talks about the implications of money digitization. His though-provoking presentation deals with how virtual money systems are the financial services for the new urban poor.

"When you are working on cell phones, when you are working on the web, when you are working on electronic money and payment systems, you need to think: What if my user is a North-Korean"

How would I do this differently if I knew my user was from Pyongyang, that his regime had collapsed, that his economy had collapsed, he was completely bewildered, and he had never seen a cell phone or a computer in his life, and I intended to make him a productive and happy fellow citizen in ten years, what kind of technology would I give that person, what kind of trading system, economic system?”

Hanna Cho's note from the session about the "Virtual Money" at LIFT Asia. The first speaker, David Birch, an economist gave his perspective on the future of digital currency, he was followed by science-fiction writer Bruce Sterling.