Comments:  Much as I hate to spoil the suspense, it's necessary to begin sorting out truth from fiction now, before it becomes too confusing to tell them apart.

The device pictured above is a biochip (also known as a microchip implant, ID chip, RFID chip, etc.) — a tiny, implantable wireless transponder which emits a weak signal in the presence of a scanner, permitting the transmission of small amounts of information (e.g., identification numbers) to a receiver. It is indeed about the size of a grain of rice.

That is not, however, what is described in the text. The authors confuse implantable microchips with a different kind of chip designed to be embedded in so-called "smart cards" for storing personal information (e.g., your checking account balance). The smart card was conceived as an alternative to both paper money and ordinary credit cards, but the day when it will entirely eliminate them is still a ways off.

Main point: The technology pictured above isn't the same as the technology described above.