Abstract: Cash is given to a person confidentially and anonymously by first receiving an amount of cash from a person and, without identifying the person from whom the cash was received, or to whom it is to be paid out, the amount of cash is identified by a code such as the PAN code. The holder of the cash is part of a network including multiple card readers at remote transaction points, and the identifying code is encoded on a card. When the holder of the card desires a sum of cash not exceeding the amount of cash held by the cash holder, the card is inserted in the card reader at the transaction point, the authenticity of the card is verified, as with a PIN number, and the holder then sends a signal to the card reader at the transaction point authorizing the payout of the requested sum of cash.