Cashless Economy

During the pandemic we have all been encouraged to use contactless card payments to reduce close contact between customers and staff, and last week banks informed us that the spending limit on contactless payments was to be increased from £45 to £100 from October 15. However although this will be welcomed by many who use contactless card payments to purchase expensive or multiple goods on a regular basis, there are already warnings that crime may rise as an unintended consequence. READ MORE  

Online banking, mobile finance and various payment technologies are extremely popular nowadays. Some already use their mobile phones as a true replacement for a wallet, and some would not remember the last time they paid in cash. And then, there are others – those who, for various reasons, continue to use coins and bills as their main means of payment. In the cashless debate, their voices are not so loud, but they still deserve to be heard.   A complete shift to the cashless society would mean the suppression of a daily and central means of payment for the poor and the elderly. How is...

A cashless society describes an economic state where financial transactions are not conducted with money in the form of physical banknotes or coins, but rather through the transfer of digital information (usually an electronic representation of money) between the transacting parties. Cashless societies have existed from the time when human society came into existence, based on barter and other methods of exchange, and cashless transactions have also become possible in modern times using credit or debit cards, mobile payments and digital currencies such as bitcoin. However this article...

Over $104 million in Pennsylvania Turnpike tolls were lost last year as the agency switched to all-electronic tolling, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday. Around 11 million out of 170 million turnpike rides in the year that ended on May 31 generated no revenue, the report said, and millions of drivers who don't use E-ZPass had a one in two chance of a free trip under the state's license plate camera system. "We take this issue very seriously. It is a big number, there's no question," turnpike Chief Executive Mark Compton told the AP. "But we, as an organization, are leaving no stone...

The average citizen has become aware of the threat of government overreach, acutely cognisant of the fact that their communications and digital transactions are not hidden safely away, that their every movement can be and is being tracked by unknown agents. Oh the wonders of modern technology… The public debate about the merits of cashless societies has encouraged us to once again wade into esoteric deliberation on how to conserve our civil liberties, to fight back against this inaffable government- and big tech-led foray into our private-sphere. In the United States, citizens have become...

Since the beginning of the pandemic, consumers have increasingly faced “No Cash” signs when trying to pay for purchases. For some, this poses no problem. For others, this means being unable to buy the goods they need or having to travel a longer distance to find a store that accepts cash. In October 2020, Dutch Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra announced he would keep an eye on the increasing number of the country’s stores refusing cash payments during the pandemic. He explained that people should be able to choose how they want to pay for purchases and that he would evaluate whether...

Are they trying to abolish cash? It seems that the national Covid panic, including wild suggestions that cash spreads disease, has been the pretext for a fierce attempt to march us towards a cashless society. Getting actual banknotes grows harder every day, as cashpoint machines are closed and banks disappear. Even shops that still accept cash often complain that they have no change. A cafe near my office has claimed for weeks that it is mysteriously ‘unable’ to accept money, so I must produce a card to pay for a £1.25 cup of coffee. Increasingly bureaucratic pubs look shocked if offered...

Friedrich Schneider is a respected economist. If one believes the estimates of the professor emeritus from Linz, undeclared work worth around 420 billion euros will be done in Germany this year. The Federal Statistical Office tries to capture the shadow economy in the national accounts. Nevertheless, according to Schneider’s estimate, around every tenth euro paid for services bypasses the tax authorities – not least because these services are always paid in cash. Out of understandable self-interest, the state has always tried to curb this shadow economy. Customs controls on construction...

Just as the internet disrupted media and the information ecosystem, innovations in financial technology (fintech) are disrupting another fundamental aspect of society: money. As societies move to modernize their financial systems, authoritarian governments, liberal democracies, and proponents of decentralized currencies have all proposed divergent visions for the future of money. China, for example, is on its front foot, looking to leverage fintech to assert greater domestic control over capital and the economy, and disrupt the US-centered global financial system over the longer term. The...