QUOTE (nezumi @ Apr 6 2010, 08:40 AM)

Also note that it isn't fully clear how a credstick works. Vendors have credstick readers, but between normal people it's never explained. Most likely you could touch credsticks together to transfer smaller amounts of cash. (One of the novels has people just giving their credsticks away to pay for things, perhaps implying people would generally have multiple credsticks in different denominations, but it seems to me that would wholly defeat the purpose.)
I usually think of private cred-stick transactions as along the lines of the new I-phone 'Bump' mechanic with paypal. A little more intricate perhaps (physical contact, wire, whatever), but similar idea.