Cashle$$ Society In Our Future?

A 'cashless society' means an economic state whereby financial transactions are not made through 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 users.

Lloyds last year (2016) announced the closure of 200 branches across the UK in a direct response to consumers deserting the high street in favour of digital channels. According to the taxpayer-owned bank’s chief executive, "the use of branches has fallen by 15 per cent year on year – yet another sign that we’re moving towards a cashless society at an accelerated pace".

Why?

Governments worldwide are pushing for a cashless society. They say it's to stop terrorism, tax avoiders, drug dealers and all sorts of crime. They aim to do this by imposing limits on large cash transactions, for example in France you cannot transact over 1500 euros. Greece 1000 euros. They are also stopping high value notes. In the US their pushing to stop the $100 dollar bill. Recently in India they stopped the 1000 & 500 rupee bill.They are grouped together in a group called 'better than cash alliance' which include the UN, the US aswell as many third world countries.

Others say there's a more sinister plan going on. The governments want to spy on the populace. Gather all theinformation of where the money is going & and to control society.

The Good

Already, Nordic countries such as Denmark and Sweden are leading the rest of the world in cashless payments for even the smallest items. Sweden for example. According to its central bank, the Riksbank, cash transactions made up barely 2 per cent of the value of all payments in the country last year. In Swedish shops, cash is now used for only 20 per cent of transactions, half of the amount from five years ago, while some 900 of Sweden’s 1,600 bank branches no longer keep cash on the premises or accept cash deposits.In Denmark, almost a third of the population now uses an official Danske Bank app called MobilePay as a cash alternative. It links a user’s smartphone to till sensors or other people’s phones and was used to make some 90 million transactions last year. More recently, a Swedish app called Swish, has been developed jointly with the country’s major banks including Nordea, Handelsbanken, SEB, Danske Bank and Swedbank. Swish uses phone numbers to allow anyone with a smartphone to transfer money from one bank account to another in real time. Adopted by nearly half the Swedish population, Swish is now used to make more than nine million payments a month. 

According to a recent report from global think-tank Fung Global Retail & Technology, the evolutionary speed of mobile payment adoption across Europe could lead to a cashless society by 2030. This prediction is underpinned by high rates of smartphone and bank account penetration compared to Asia and Africa, with nine of the top 15 ranked digital-ready countries located in Europe. In the UK, over half of all online payments are already being made via mobile and with the introduction of 'android pay' a few months ago, mobile payment penetration is likely to continue to soar. After all, Google occupies 82 per cent of the smartphone market and with Android’s more simplistic integration with existing NFC terminals, contactless payment adoption will now accelerate and small businesses everywhere will benefit. 

Convenience - You don't have to carry wads of cash around everywhere. Making it safer from robbery and your friends asking to borrow money.

Budget discipline - The written record will help you keep tabs on your spending and this will result in better budgeting.

Discounts - Waiver service tax on cards encourage digital transactions. Discounts can be had on rail, fuel, food and lots of other good stuff

Lower risk  - If stolen, it is easy to block a credit card or mobile wallet remotely, but it’s impossible to get your cash back.

Tracking spends - If all transactions are on record, it will be very easy for people to keep track of their spending. It will also help while filing income tax returns and, in case of a scrutiny.

The Bad

Losing phone - Since you will be dependent on your phone for all your transactions on the move, losing it can prove to be a double whammy. It can not only make you susceptible to identity theft, but you could also be rendered helpless in the absence of physical cash or any other payment option. 

Difficult for tech-unsavvy - India has a low Internet penetration of 34.8%(2016), according to the Internet Live Stats, and only 26.3% of all mobile phone users have a smartphone (2015), as per Statista figures. It’s a problem for the older people, who may suddenly find themselves locked out of their accounts if they can’t download an app or don’t have cash. The digital medium may prove a challenge for the tech-unfriendly people, who will need more time to adapt or the availability of other options to conduct transactions. 

Overspending - While there is no denying the convenience of card or mobile wallet transactions, it could open a spending trap for an unsuspecting population. According to behavioural finance theorists, the pain of parting with money is felt more acutely if you use physical cash instead of a card. 

Hacking - Hackers are getting forevermore more clever and good at their craft. You've seen the news, NHS, Airlines, Ethereum (DAO), Presidential voting campaigns (supposedly lol), cyber terrorism groups such as Anonomous & North Korea. You could, and everyone else at sometime fall victim to the hacking of your accounts on your phone and also be a victim of identity theft.

Malfunction - Glitches happen all the time. 

The Ugly

Job losses - Lloyds closing 200 branches nationwide isn't the only case. There are other banks doing the same. Lots of people will be out a job due to going cashless.

Privacy gone - Every swipe of your card will reveal your location, time and amount spent. The government can have your life and financial situation up on their screens within a few clicks of a button.

EMP attack - One for the preppers out there. Altho highly unlikely an EMP detonation would knock out all phones and internet noone would have their digital cash to spend.

Bad government - Governments seizing funds of it's citizens to pay of debts or finance a war or something. Would be a fun one as lots of Americans own guns.

Forms of Cashless Payments

Cheque, demand draft,  online transfer - NEFT or RTGS, credit/debit card, ewallets, mobile wallets, UPI apps, girftcards, aadhaar enabled payment system, unstructured supplementary data.

RFID Chip -  RFID stands for radio frequency identification, and uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects, including an implanted chip. Not in use as of yet it's due to privacy issues.

Numbers

% of payments done without cash - Singapore 61% | Netherlands 60% | France 59% | Sweden 59% | Canada 57% | Belgium 56% | UK 52% | US 45% | Australia 35% | Germany 33% | Korea 29% | Spain 15% | Brazil 15% | Japan 15% | China 10% | all others under 10%.  (2015 data) due to the rise of crypto currencies and their acceptance these numbers will be bigger.

Thanks for reading, tell me what you think about a cashless society.

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