Countable electronic monetary system and method

A method for the establishment, storage and transfer of electronic monetary values in amounts which are an integer multiple of an elementary monetary unit, within a monetary system having a plurality of stored-value devices to electronically store monetary values therein, said plurality of stored-value devices including a plurality of payment cards with electronic coin purses, a plurality of points of sale with electronic coin drawers, and at least one electronic coin pool of a financial institution, said method comprising the steps of:

• determining at least one electronic coin type, each having a denomination of an integer number of the elementary monetary unit;
• generating, for each of said at least one electronic coin type, a selectable plurality of electronic coins each having the denomination of said electronic coin type and a serial number;
• depositing, in each of said plurality of stored-value devices, a group of a non-negative number of electronic coins, the serial number of each electronic coin deposited in a storage device written onto this storage device;
• and
• performing transactions by transferring selectable electronic coins of selectable electronic coin types from a selected source stored-value device to a selected target stored-value device, both selected from said plurality of stored-value devices, by writing the serial number of each of said selectable electronic coins onto said target stored-value device and erasing said serial number from said source stored-value device, wherein said performing transactions further includes picking the transferred electronic coins according to preselected picking criteria.

A countable electronic monetary system for the transfer of electronic money in amounts which are an integer multiple of an elementary monetary unit, the transfer of electronic money made between two selected ones from a plurality of payment cards, a plurality of points of sale and a number of financial institutions, the countable electronic monetary system comprising:

• a) at least one electronic coin type, each electronic coin type of said at least one electronic coin type having a denomination of an integer number of said elementary monetary unit;
• b) a plurality of electronic coins each belonging to one of said at least one electronic coin type, each electronic coin of said plurality of electronic coins having a serial number;
• c) a plurality of stored-value devices, each for storing electronic coins from said plurality of electronic coins, comprising:
• i. a plurality of electronic coin purses, each included in a payment card of the plurality of payment cards;
• ii. a plurality of electronic coin drawers, each included in a point of sale of the plurality of points of sale;
• and
• iii. a number of electronic coin pools, each included in a financial institution of the number of financial institutions;
• d) electronic pennies having no serial numbers;
• and
• e) transaction means for the transfer of a selectable number of electronic coins belonging to a selectable electronic coin type, from a source stored-value device selected from said plurality of stored-value devices to a another, target stored-value device selected from said plurality of stored-value devices, said transaction means being operative to recording the serial number of each of one of said selectable number of electronic coins in said targer stored-value device and to erase said serial number from said source stored-value device.