Do we still need cash? (2024)

FAQs

Do we still need cash? ›

You can still pull out cash from the bank and stuff your grocery envelopes with it or even slip a few dollars under your kid's pillow for their lost tooth. Cash is still alive and well, and no pandemic can take it down. Like it or not, there are plenty of people who like and rely on using dollar bills.

The proportion of physical payments continued its decline to 14 per cent from 15 per cent in 2022 compared to 2021. That's not to say nobody wants cash anymore. There were still 6.4 billion in payments made using cash last year. Around 40 per cent of us use cash to buy something at least once per week.

The US is moving toward cashless payments, with a substantial increase in the use of mobile wallet apps and contactless cards. A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco found that payments made using cash accounted for just 18% of all US payments in 2022.

This author says that's a false narrative. If it's been a long time since you pulled out actual dollars and coins to pay for something — here's a conversation for you. It might seem like cash is slowly becoming obsolete. But, Brett Scott says it's a false narrative that we're all pining for a cashless society.

For instance, using cash instead of credit or debit cards may help keep some people from overspending, because you can see how little is left in your wallet after every purchase. In short, getting rid of cash would impose hardships on society's most vulnerable people and could jeopardize our privacy.

Physical currency isn't becoming obsolete any time soon, so it's important to weigh up your options before deciding to go fully cashless in 2024. Ensuring you can accept some cashless payments though, is essential to keeping with today's trends and customer expectations.

We have been issuing banknotes for over 300 years and make sure the banknotes we all use are of high quality. While the future demand for cash is uncertain, it is unlikely that cash will die out any time soon.

“China is one of the top countries for using cashless payment systems, but penetration is not 100%,” says Sara Hsu, an associate professor at the University of Tennessee, specialising in supply chain management. “Elderly Chinese still often prefer to pay with cash and some struggle with using mobile payments.”

U.S. President Joe Biden ordered officials to look into a digital dollar in 2022 but it has become a divisive political issue with Biden's Republican rival in this year's U.S. election race, Donald Trump, vowing not to allow it.

Analysis from Barclays Investment Bank, meanwhile, predicts that the global transition from cash to digital payments would reach a tipping point moment in 2025, when absolute cash usage would decline from 41 per cent in 2019 to 20 per cent by 2030.

Will a cashless society happen? ›

Is the cashless society really coming? Despite the rapid development of convenient, seamless digital payment methods, the 100 per cent cashless society remains a distant prospect. Cash is a trusted, reliable and essentially secure way to spend, and still adds up when it comes to straightforward everyday budgeting.

Why Eliminate Cash? Cash can be used in criminal activities such as money laundering and tax evasion because it is difficult to trace. Digital transactions or electronic money create an audit trail for law enforcement and financial institutions and can aid governments in economic policymaking.

Finland and the UK are top–ranked to become cashless societies as well. Poland, on the other hand, has scrapped plans to limit cash payments to ensure freedom of choice. In the Asia–Pacific region, Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea and Singapore are identified as frontrunners in digital payments.

Thanks to credit cards and debit cards, there is no need to carry paper money. You can buy goods and services with a simple swipe, dip, or tap of your card. This is why card-based transactions continue to soar while cash money is on the decline. However, you still need a wallet to carry your cards, right?

If you keep your money in cash, it never grows. Your $20 is still $20 a year later, and that same $20 actually becomes less valuable due to inflation. The more money you keep in cash, the more you miss out on accruing interest.

Even in a growing global economy, that means more than $2 trillion dollars of cash that was in global circulation in 2020 won't be around in 2024. In North America, cash is projected to account for only 8.7% of all POS transactions by 2024. If you're looking for a cashless society, it's increasingly easy to find.