I posted this before.
1st world countries like Kenya are doing it, and it works well.
Safaricom's M-Pesa Turns Kenya Into a Mobile Payment Paradise - Businessweek
And I have said before that in countries were e-currency is used, that regular currency is still used as well.
PICHARDO is saying that ALL currency will be replaced in the DR with e-currency. That is a virtual impossibility.
For example in Kenya:
Granular data shows that cash is still king
Our field team interviewed and mapped 3,489 businesses in urban areas and 773 in rural areas, equivalent to one merchant for every 13 households in urban and one merchant for every 10 households in rural areas. We then selected 60 retail merchants to collect detailed data over four days, recording the size, frequency and payment medium of transactions.
We discovered that, despite Kenya’s reputation for being a leader in mobile money, cash is still king. As shown in Chart 1, 99% of all retail transactions we captured were done in cash, with most of the remainder done through informal credit arrangements. In contrast, the Payments Council in the UK reports that 59% of consumer transactions were done in cash and accounted for less than one third of transaction values. However, this does not mean that electronic payment is not available from some merchants. Our census data indicated that 18% of retail merchants accept mobile money, while about half will provide short term credit for goods.
Is M-PESA Replacing Cash in Kenya? | CGAP