> Anybody heard of this in the US? Seems like quite an interesting anomaly
> with everything headed towards monetary unity and cyber-trade...
The Yamato currency does exist in smart-card form, which qualifies as cyber-trade in my book.
Here are a few I know of in North America:
http://www.ithacahours.com/ http://www.norfed.org/ http://www.e-gold.com/
Chris