China says rejecting physical cash is illegal amid e-payments popularity

[yusupjatigumilar]

I agree with regard to the Chinese government, the positive thing is that everyone can still make transactions in accordance with the money they have (physical or non-physical) this will make transactions easier, because not everyone has money in the virtual form or vice versa, because of its development current financial technology is not evenly distributed which will adversely affect the usefulness of the physical currency

[1715067444]

1715067444

[makerofall]

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China’s central bank on Monday warned that rejecting cash as a form of payment was illegal, saying that such practices could eventually could cause the loss of confidence in physical money and was unfair to those not accustomed to electronic payments.

Its comments, made in a post on its official WeChat account, come as electronic payments via Alibaba Group’s Alipay or Tencent Holdings’s WeChat have become increasingly popular in China where they are accepted on platforms such as public transport and at retailers like coffee shops.

The ease of use has meant that some vendors, especially in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai, have stopped accepting physical cash.

“Electronic payments has given us a new way to pay, but it must not replace cash payments,” the People’s Bank of China said. “Over time, the practice can become second nature and people could lose confidence in cash.

It added that it was particularly unfair to the elderly and people who lived in underdeveloped parts of the country who would have difficulty in mastering the processes needed for electronic payment.

The central bank also pointed out that some local authorities were promoting their technology advancements with taglines like “cashless city”, but said that this should not mean that they no longer accepted money.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-payment/china-says-rejecting-physical-cash-is-illegal-amid-e-payments-popularity-idUSKBN1O902F

....

China appears to be adopting the inverse polar opposite of a cashless society.

This makes for an interesting contrast with other nations many of whom view a transition to cashless payment systems as being a natural progression.

If someone wanted to cite reasons behind china adopting the opposite of a cashless society, while many other nations of the world embraced the opposite abstract--how would they explain this? What would the main motive behind differences in policy be?

China is the first country to implement a cashless system, and we can say that it has succeeded well, no wonder if this triggers ideas and topics of discussion for most financial officials in each country. I think the Chinese government cannot put forward a cashless system because cash is real, it's the main product of every country including China which is arguably still very reliable for the economy of their country, in addition to technology, etc.

Every country wants the e-payment but not at the cost of its own fiat. China is a very committed country towards taking over the global power and this is the reason it is not so flexible to things that can possible hurt the financial status.

[Escf4]

In every country they have their own rules to be followed especially in terms of financial activities , which involve currency ,so if the fiat money in china is illegal when in will not be accepted  or rejected then that is their ruling, so crypto or any digital payments  maybe needs to be review in the government of china if it is already acceptable.

[timerland]

I like this, the Chinese government may realize that paper money is troublesome, use E-payment because it is more practical and easy to use, I think cryptocurrency can be made a second alternative for payment.

The chinese obviously are pushing for paper money dude. That's why they have a firm stance when it comes to cryptocurrencies probably becauae the givernment will have less control if it get's mass adoption. These guys still are about having the necks of their citizens in their hands.

If they really wanted to gain more direct control over the economy, I don't think that even paper money would be the best they will be able to do. Going cashless would mean that every transaction can be traced, and potentially, monetary policy will be able to be implemented more directly, if there were ever to be an electronic ledger issued directly by the central bank.

I honestly don't think that this announcement has anything to do with "pushing paper money". China's been going the opposite direction for years already, and cash usage is very low.

As I said before, this is simply to guarantee and back the legality of cash, and to try to solve or at least "hide" the problem of rural areas not having access to these electronic forms of payments, which are so widespread right now.

[medicalmiracle]

For better or worse, a cashless world is coming.  Such a thing would have been unheard of in the 1800s, and boy how times have changed.

is it though? i've heard the fearmongering about sweden, but i don't see anything like that happening in the USA. cash economies are still really prevalent here. where i live, gas prices are lower if you're paying with cash vs card and most people i know still use cash (at least sometimes).

Which is a dominant side of the cash I think because not all of them are going to use the e-payments and this is also evident in China. Though they might not be against the e-payments but they would also like their own currencies demanded more.

[BoitCoinZen]

I don’t see anything wrong with what they have said. We still need cash cause it’s very important. There are lots of things you do today’ that requires payments being made in cash. And moreover, physical payments are the real money we talk about, technology is just a way of making things easier, or haven’t you read that before? So they are right.

[funkenstein]

You gotta understand the context here.  Chinese people are way ahead of the world in the transition to digital cash, you will almost never see any paper bills used here.  There are many vendors who simply don't keep any paper money and so they can't make change, and this annoys foreigners as well as locals whose phones have died or are trying to unload their paper stash accumulated from wherever that might be.  This is what that statement is trying to address. 

Keep in mind there is not one person in the entire country who expects people to have M0 physical cash or credit cards, and every vendor, beggar, busker, and retailer displays prominent QR codes.  This will help keep the statement in context. 

[justdimin]

I still think it is not a bad move, I mean of course by the looks of it technology will catch up and eventually cash will be useless however that is years away and currently we still use cash a lot and specially in countries like China people use cash a lot more so it is really weird if a place rejects cash. This is not saying "you only can pay with cash", its far from reality, people are reacting like cash is the only way to they are allowed to be paid.

Not at all, this is just saying accept whatever you want but you can't reject cash, you can go with debits you can go with cheque, you can do whatever you wish however you just can't reject cash. Which if you ask me is a smart move, I mean there must be a lot of over the counter transactions in China and those people would love to keep doing cash exchanges.

[aoluain]

I think the statement in the OP is a strange one. If vendors feel that the
majority of their transactions are digital surely they are entitled to create
their own term and conditions.

The world is definitely moving to cashless transactions, possibly remote
or rural parts of certain countries will be slower to change.

It will all move at its own pace so banning one form of payment doesnt
make sense to me.

[jjjfff]

China is right on this one but it's not really unique. US Treasury notes (greenback US Dollars) also cannot be rejected within the USA. Paper money is legal tender anywhere in the USA and cannot be rejected.

And needless to say a cashless society is a menace to privacy and even to national security.

[Renaldi blackspadeteam]

I like this, the Chinese government may realize that paper money is troublesome, use E-payment because it is more practical and easy to use, I think cryptocurrency can be made a second alternative for payment.

The chinese obviously are pushing for paper money dude. That's why they have a firm stance when it comes to cryptocurrencies probably becauae the givernment will have less control if it get's mass adoption. These guys still are about having the necks of their citizens in their hands.

unfortunately, in my country still using paper money which is quite troublesome, to be honest I like payment systems in China that are easy and practical because with electronic money and cryptocurrency making payments easier and time-saving,

[Betwrong]

I may disagree with many things Chinese government and PBOC is doing, but I absolutely support the statement in question. People should have the right to pay for goods and services with physical cash, or, in other words, they should not be forced to use electronic payments only. Since many people are still payed in cash for their work, vendors have to accept it as a form of payment in all cases.

[BitHodler]

unfortunately, in my country still using paper money which is quite troublesome, to be honest I like payment systems in China that are easy and practical because with electronic money and cryptocurrency making payments easier and time-saving,

I don't see how cash settled transactions are troublesome? It adds to your privacy and allows for instant and irreversible payments, which is what crypto is also praised for.

China is just looking for a way to make their control over people's capital even tighter, which is exactly why they didn't step in sooner. This could have been seen coming like a decade ago, and they act now? Seriously?

As always, people will only realize what they miss when they no longer have it, and it's just a matter of time before they do if nothing changes. Privacy is one of the most important parts of money, don't forget that.

[Tylev]

I don’t see anything wrong with what they have said. We still need cash cause it’s very important. There are lots of things you do today’ that requires payments being made in cash. And moreover, physical payments are the real money we talk about, technology is just a way of making things easier, or haven’t you read that before? So they are right.

I think that any state will say the same thing if it sees that the population is too keen on cryptocurrency. National paper money of the states will always go and no state will ever give up on them. On the one hand, the Chinese government always warns its citizens about possible material losses due to the high risks that cryptocurrency carries with it, and on the other, it protects its own currency in order to prevent inflation and the economy from falling.

[daarul50]

I fully support if the Chinese government adopts full non-cash payments as long as they do not leave cash as other payments because cash is the only currency that will continue to be used even though the times are all digital.

[BitBustah]

The future looks very scary with how fast technology is increasing.  Eventually the government will know every single thing about us and getting rid of cash is only the beginning.

[Crypdon]

They prefer wechat pay because it is a lot quicker and safer as they don't need to carry cash around. If these companies were to integrate crypto currencies into their payment options then bitoin will skyrocket like an SEC EFT.

[usorin]

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China’s central bank on Monday warned that rejecting cash as a form of payment was illegal, saying that such practices could eventually could cause the loss of confidence in physical money and was unfair to those not accustomed to electronic payments.

Its comments, made in a post on its official WeChat account, come as electronic payments via Alibaba Group’s Alipay or Tencent Holdings’s WeChat have become increasingly popular in China where they are accepted on platforms such as public transport and at retailers like coffee shops.

The ease of use has meant that some vendors, especially in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai, have stopped accepting physical cash.

“Electronic payments has given us a new way to pay, but it must not replace cash payments,” the People’s Bank of China said. “Over time, the practice can become second nature and people could lose confidence in cash.

It added that it was particularly unfair to the elderly and people who lived in underdeveloped parts of the country who would have difficulty in mastering the processes needed for electronic payment.

The central bank also pointed out that some local authorities were promoting their technology advancements with taglines like “cashless city”, but said that this should not mean that they no longer accepted money.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-payment/china-says-rejecting-physical-cash-is-illegal-amid-e-payments-popularity-idUSKBN1O902F

....

China appears to be adopting the inverse polar opposite of a cashless society.

This makes for an interesting contrast with other nations many of whom view a transition to cashless payment systems as being a natural progression.

If someone wanted to cite reasons behind china adopting the opposite of a cashless society, while many other nations of the world embraced the opposite abstract--how would they explain this? What would the main motive behind differences in policy be?

I have no political inclinations but considering thia matter they are right. Not eberybody has the oportuniry or posibility to use e-money, this is one of the reasons why we still need cash in this world.

[NavI_027]

Oh my! I can't understand why their government wants to do the opposite despite the fact that their countrymen are now embracing electronic payments. In other words, their way of living is growing naturally but they choose to stick with the traditional one. China can be futuristic — a kind of society we often read from science fictions — but unfortunately they refuse to do so. For me, the elders is not a valid reason to for a country to stop improving, they should take it as a challenge to continue further.

[maemunah]

China is a developed country now and now Bitcoin is widely used in China and technology is now advancing because China is relying on Bitcoin and it is true that cash is not feasible and now uses digital money so that the country is considered to be a developed country in technology and economics. good strategy for the country, I like it