In an increasingly digitized world, what is the role of “cash”?
Ask that question to just about anyone and you’ll likely get a response about how cash is going to die off because everyone is going to be using digital payments.
When was the last time you dropped coins into a toll booth? Or paid cash for a cab ride? In fact, Uber and Lyft allow us to get around a city without a wallet. Cashier-less stores with services like Amazon Go and Uber Eats and wallet-less pay mechanisms are about to become the new normal.
Denmark stopped printing money in 2017. The year prior, in an attempt to expand mobile banking and demonetize the country’s gray-market economy, India recalled 86% of its cash. Vietnam was already 50% cashless as of 2020. And Sweden, where over 80% of all transactions are already digital, has pledged to become the first fully cashless society by 2023.
Economists often point out that two of the main factors driving economic growth are the availability of money—the stockpiles we can draw upon—and the velocity of money, or the speed and ease with which we can move that money around. Both factors are being amplified by exponential technologies.
As our transactions shift to the digital realm, more data on spending habits can be collected and fed to AI algorithms that continue to learn based on real-time input. This information will educate marketing campaigns, credit records, and investment goals.
It is clear that national banks are preparing to kill off cash by launching their own digital currencies like China already did with the digital yuan. The question remains however, when is it going to happen?
Credits: Peter Diamandis
Still curious? Learn more about our Platform Growth By Curiosity and discover more.
Last modified: June 14, 2021
