Cashless Economy

Should Idaho businesses be required to accept cash as payment? That’s the interesting question that could be coming before the Idaho Legislature. Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, introduced a bill last week stating “a person who engages in business as a seller in this state shall accept cash as a method of payment along with any other methods of payment the seller may accept.” The House State Affairs Committee agreed to print the bill, House Bill 256, after a lively discussion of its merits. On its face, it seems like a silly thing. After all, we’re headed for a cashless society,...

China is using lotteries to test its new digital currency, DCEP (Digital Currency Electronic Payment). According to a notice from the government of Shenzhen, the city is preparing this week to conduct its second lottery to pay out prizes exclusively in the new currency, following a successful debut draw last October. The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) announced the creation of DCEP in November last year. DCEP is the world’s first state-backed cryptocurrency. It has prompted concern in the West that Beijing is exploring the creation of a completely cashless society, upon which it can exert...

Rather than jail time or hefty fines, China’s justice system is employing a new type of punishment for criminals this year: massive inconvenience. The state-run Xinhua News agency reported Wednesday that 2,421 people found guilty of bank card and mobile SIM card-related crimes in the southern Guangdong province over the past month have been barred from making mobile and bank card payments for five years. They will now only be able to use cash. The punishment is tantamount to social exclusion in a country where mobile payments are employed in every area of life, from public transport to...

The central bank says that the coronavirus crisis has caused Czechs to withdraw more cash from ATMs than usual, Hospodářské noviny reported Monday. However, this is not only to increase the ready money in their pockets – it is also because small firms have been making more cash payments at a time of uncertainty, the business daily said. Vojtěch Benda from the Czech National Bank’s board said that demand for cash shot up after Covid-19 first hit the Czech Republic in March. Mr. Benda told Hospodářské noviny that at the same time as political leaders were advocating cashless payments,...

LUXEMBOURG (CN) — Businesses in the European Union should accept cash, but countries are allowed to place their own restrictions on currency usage, an adviser to the EU’s high court said Tuesday. The nonbinding advisory opinion from Advocate General Giovanni Pitruzzella says companies in the 27-member political and economic union should accept euro notes because people who don’t use banks may struggle to pay with other methods, but he wrote countries can impose currency regulations so long as they are in the public interest and do not abolish the euro. The case was referred to the...

First toilet paper, now small change. As the seriousness of COVID-19 became clear, Americans stocked up on toilet paper before heading into quarantine. The resulting shortage of that particular product was one of the more peculiar side effects of the pandemic. Now months later another, a perhaps more serious shortage is at hand. In June, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell informed that Congress America’s coin supply had dwindled due to COVID. Since then, the question I am most often asked “is the coin shortage real?” This is usually followed by “or is this the federal government’s...

One of the biggest trends of the modern era involves the economy moving away from cash based transactions. Instead, paper money and all other physical forms of cash are slowly starting to be replaced with online transactions. With PayPal, Venmo and other online modes of transferring money from one person to another quickly becoming far more popular as time goes by, it seems like it’s only a matter of time before cash becomes a thing of the past, something that modern people simply do not use anymore. However, a recent survey conducted by JD Power reveals that the cashless future is not...

As mobile payments and credit cards offer alternative methods of payment to cold hard cash, 82% of Americans said they still carry cash for certain transactions, according to a survey by J.D. Power.   One-quarter (25%) of all respondents said they have $50 or more on hand at any given time. Sixty-seven percent of respondents said they used cash to make a purchase during the past week, while 61% said they used a debit card, 54% used a credit card, and 20% of consumers reported using a mobile phone or smartwatch to make a purchase.   The report also mentions the rise of chains,...

On Oct. 1, Philadelphia officially became the first major U.S. city to completely ban cashless stores, requiring city-wide retail locations to accept cash payments. Businesses that fail to comply with the bill’s demands will incur charges of up to $2,000, CBS Philly reported.   USA Today reported that proponents of this bill argue that cashless establishments are discriminatory towards low-income groups with limited access to credit cards and banking accounts. In Philadelphia, 24.5 percent of the population is below the poverty line, according to a 2018 report from the U.S. Census...