How Bitcoin will rise as EU cash payments fall

[JessicaVL]

Do you remember the last time you paid in cash? You’re probably an anomaly if you do. Cash payments in the EU (and the rest of the world) have been on the decline for a while now, with many merchants no longer accepting cash as a payment method. Unless you’re doing some old school shady dealings that involve a briefcase and stacks of cash, you probably haven’t seen that much paper money changing hands lately. Over the last decade or so, we’ve made a shift towards a cashless society. The rise of online banking and, most recently, cryptocurrencies, has sufficiently made the case for a switch from cash to ‘Coin. So, let’s take a look at how Bitcoin will rise as EU cash payments fall.

https://twitter.com/redditbtc/status/1206914276524462080?s=12

Cash use is falling
In Sweden, fewer and fewer merchants (restaurants, shops, and even museums) are accepting cash payments. Sweden’s transport system also, mostly, only accepts transactions via card or mobile payment. According to a report from Bloomberg, “no cash accepted” signs are becoming commonplace around the nation.

All of this follows a historic decision by Swedish banks in 2013. According to reports, banks like SEB, Swedbank, and Nordea Bank all began to refuse to hand over physical cash to clients in 75% of their branches. Now, more than half of all Swedish banks refuse to deal with cash.

According toRiksbank, cash payments made up less than 2% of the value of all transactions made in Sweden in 2015. This has likely declined even further today. Circulation of the Swedish Krona has plummeted from around 106 billion in 2009 to only 80 billion last year. The Swedes truly are leading the way to a cashless society, and the rest of Europe seems to be following suit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0ph-pvCSPc

Norway has also made a bid to become a cashless society. The Norwegian Conservative Party committee previously set out a plan for Norway to become a cashless society by 2030. Norway will first allow businesses to refuse cash payments, before rolling out online billing and payments as mandatory. According to Trond Betestuen, the executive vice president at DNB, only 6% of Norwegians use cash on a daily basis.

Comparatively, the UK - now racing towards Brexit - doesn’t seem to be making the move to a cashless society anytime soon. London might have adopted a cashless transport system with Oyster cards, but it’s hardly set the precedent for the rest of the country. According to the Bank of England, the number of banknotes in circulation has been on the rise since 2013. However, this isn’t reflected in the transactions of the British population. Cash transactions have actually been falling by 10% per year, with card payments overtaking notes and coins quite a while ago.

Bitcoin on the rise
Now let’s take a look at how Bitcoin will rise as EU cash payments fall. According to BitPay, a Bitcoin payment service provider, payments made using BTC increased by a whopping 328% from 2016 to 2017. In 2017, Europe was the second largest Bitcoin market, behind North America. 35% of payments made through the service provider came from Europe.

Estonia, Sweden, and Russia all seem to be following in the footsteps of Venezuela, in developing their own national cryptocurrencies. These will likely be stablecoins, and probably won’t oust Bitcoin as the most trusted cryptoasset. Bitcoin and blockchain technology could play a massive role in the future of European payment systems.

Now’s the time to get in on Bitcoin. Download the Tap app and take advantage of their multiple exchange trade technology. The app scans all the top crypto exchanges to find you the best trade price, no matter your pairing, while ensuring liquidity. Another unique feature of the app allows you to send money directly from your crypto wallet to another person’s bank account. Tap also offers a Prepaid card alongside the app which allows you to instantly convert your crypto and spend it anywhere in the world , find out more here.

Bitcoin is the future
We’ve taken a look at how Bitcoin will rise as EU cash payments fall, and the future is looking pretty exciting. As cash payments plummet around the world, but particularly in Europe, it makes more and more sense for us to accept the cryptocurrency as a valid and viable payment method. Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency with the largest market cap, really is the only crypto contender to replace cash in Europe.

Cash payments have been falling around the world for a long time now. The advent of debit cards and mobile and online payment systems have made things vastly more convenient for us - something which many of us take for granted. Bitcoin will change this further. A digital future includes cryptocurrencies, there’s no denying that.

https://www.tap.global/how-bitcoin-will-rise-as-eu-cash-payments-fall

[stompix]

*I can see where JollyGood got the idea for his topic

Bitcoin on the rise
Now let’s take a look at how Bitcoin will rise as EU cash payments fall. According to BitPay, a Bitcoin payment service provider, payments made using BTC increased by a whopping 328% from 2016 to 2017. In 2017, Europe was the second largest Bitcoin market, behind North America. 35% of payments made through the service provider came from Europe.

That was during the bitcoin price pump in the second year there was no growth they mentioned nothing about the numbers:
https://bitpay.com/blog/2018-blockchain-payments-review/
Growth was around zero.

Now’s the time to get in on Bitcoin. Download the Tap app ....

Uh...what?
And app bundled with a MasterCard card...isn't that ironic?
Let me check the fee page:

ATM withdrawal (exclusive of ATM operator fees) above free limit of £500 per month for the Standard account and above the free limit of £1,000 per month on a Black Account   2% (with a minimum charge of €2.00 per withdrawal)

Why even bother to use this revolutionary method when with my current Mastercard I have zero fees?

[ChrisPop]

Most of my payments are still cash just because of  the habit of paying with banknotes at the cash payer. I need to remind myself to put the money on the card and stop carrying papers in my wallet. Better just put all of them into crypto. I'm 99% that the next step to the evolution of payments are cryptocurrrencies and Africa will probably be the first one to adopt them. The skip one technology, but they get a cutting edge generation one instead. For the countries with solid banking systems in place is much harder to make a change to a currency that is not controlled by govt. and the Central Banks.

[kryptqnick]

Do you remember the last time you paid in cash? You’re probably an anomaly if you do. Cash payments in the EU (and the rest of the world) have been on the decline for a while now, with many merchants no longer accepting cash as a payment method. Unless you’re doing some old school shady dealings that involve a briefcase and stacks of cash, you probably haven’t seen that much paper money changing hands lately. Over the last decade or so, we’ve made a shift towards a cashless society. The rise of online banking and, most recently, cryptocurrencies, has sufficiently made the case for a switch from cash to ‘Coin. So, let’s take a look at how Bitcoin will rise as EU cash payments fall.

https://twitter.com/redditbtc/status/1206914276524462080?s=12

Cash use is falling
In Sweden, fewer and fewer merchants (restaurants, shops, and even museums) are accepting cash payments. Sweden’s transport system also, mostly, only accepts transactions via card or mobile payment. According to a report from Bloomberg, “no cash accepted” signs are becoming commonplace around the nation.

All of this follows a historic decision by Swedish banks in 2013. According to reports, banks like SEB, Swedbank, and Nordea Bank all began to refuse to hand over physical cash to clients in 75% of their branches. Now, more than half of all Swedish banks refuse to deal with cash.

According toRiksbank, cash payments made up less than 2% of the value of all transactions made in Sweden in 2015. This has likely declined even further today. Circulation of the Swedish Krona has plummeted from around 106 billion in 2009 to only 80 billion last year. The Swedes truly are leading the way to a cashless society, and the rest of Europe seems to be following suit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0ph-pvCSPc

Norway has also made a bid to become a cashless society. The Norwegian Conservative Party committee previously set out a plan for Norway to become a cashless society by 2030. Norway will first allow businesses to refuse cash payments, before rolling out online billing and payments as mandatory. According to Trond Betestuen, the executive vice president at DNB, only 6% of Norwegians use cash on a daily basis.

Comparatively, the UK - now racing towards Brexit - doesn’t seem to be making the move to a cashless society anytime soon. London might have adopted a cashless transport system with Oyster cards, but it’s hardly set the precedent for the rest of the country. According to the Bank of England, the number of banknotes in circulation has been on the rise since 2013. However, this isn’t reflected in the transactions of the British population. Cash transactions have actually been falling by 10% per year, with card payments overtaking notes and coins quite a while ago.

Bitcoin on the rise
Now let’s take a look at how Bitcoin will rise as EU cash payments fall. According to BitPay, a Bitcoin payment service provider, payments made using BTC increased by a whopping 328% from 2016 to 2017. In 2017, Europe was the second largest Bitcoin market, behind North America. 35% of payments made through the service provider came from Europe.

Estonia, Sweden, and Russia all seem to be following in the footsteps of Venezuela, in developing their own national cryptocurrencies. These will likely be stablecoins, and probably won’t oust Bitcoin as the most trusted cryptoasset. Bitcoin and blockchain technology could play a massive role in the future of European payment systems.

Now’s the time to get in on Bitcoin. Download the Tap app and take advantage of their multiple exchange trade technology. The app scans all the top crypto exchanges to find you the best trade price, no matter your pairing, while ensuring liquidity. Another unique feature of the app allows you to send money directly from your crypto wallet to another person’s bank account. Tap also offers a Prepaid card alongside the app which allows you to instantly convert your crypto and spend it anywhere in the world , find out more here.

Bitcoin is the future
We’ve taken a look at how Bitcoin will rise as EU cash payments fall, and the future is looking pretty exciting. As cash payments plummet around the world, but particularly in Europe, it makes more and more sense for us to accept the cryptocurrency as a valid and viable payment method. Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency with the largest market cap, really is the only crypto contender to replace cash in Europe.

Cash payments have been falling around the world for a long time now. The advent of debit cards and mobile and online payment systems have made things vastly more convenient for us - something which many of us take for granted. Bitcoin will change this further. A digital future includes cryptocurrencies, there’s no denying that.

https://www.tap.global/how-bitcoin-will-rise-as-eu-cash-payments-fall

You're talking about all of the EU, but every country has its differences. I live just a bit outside of the EU, and some places still don't accept anything but cash, so answering the first question in the post I paid with cash today on multiple occasions where there was no card payment option.
I've recently been to Sweden, though, and the cashless stuff they say about it is totally true. I've been there for 4 days and I did not use cash even once, it was very convenient! Italy, however, is known for not being as card-friendly as other EU countries and often requiring cash.
If the trend continues, though, countries might either encourage people to pay with card/smartphones in local fiat or there can appear solid state-controlled cryptos, but I don't see how Bitcoin would benefit from that.

[Ozero]

I did not notice the great desire of the countries of the European Union to get rid of cash. This was discussed only in Sweden, I did not read that it was discussed in other European countries. In my country, the question of refusing cash circulation is not even raised. If state-owned enterprises or business structures refused to accept cash, they would be sanctioned because they would violate the law. We are increasingly using non-cash payment methods, but cash is indispensable.

[alyssa85]

Bitcoin on the rise
Now let’s take a look at how Bitcoin will rise as EU cash payments fall. According to BitPay, a Bitcoin payment service provider, payments made using BTC increased by a whopping 328% from 2016 to 2017. In 2017, Europe was the second largest Bitcoin market, behind North America. 35% of payments made through the service provider came from Europe.

That was during the bitcoin price pump in the second year there was no growth they mentioned nothing about the numbers:
https://bitpay.com/blog/2018-blockchain-payments-review/
Growth was around zero.

Nice catch. Bitcoin payments have never really recovered from the debacle of 2018 when the mempool ballooned to over three weeks.

I think we all need to accept that bitcoin is now an asset rather than a means of payment. It will be an alt that ends up being a means of payment, most likely an inflationary alt to encourage people to spend it.

[Dart18]

You're talking about all of the EU, but every country has its differences. I live just a bit outside of the EU, and some places still don't accept anything but cash, so answering the first question in the post I paid with cash today on multiple occasions where there was no card payment option.
I've recently been to Sweden, though, and the cashless stuff they say about it is totally true. I've been there for 4 days and I did not use cash even once, it was very convenient! Italy, however, is known for not being as card-friendly as other EU countries and often requiring cash.
If the trend continues, though, countries might either encourage people to pay with card/smartphones in local fiat or there can appear solid state-controlled cryptos, but I don't see how Bitcoin would benefit from that.

Thank you for the information.

Where else could we really get the real answers but only with the locals there.
Here is one who had been there and tried payments in different stores.

This might just be another advertisement for their application.

https://www.tap.global/how-bitcoin-will-rise-as-eu-cash-payments-fall

I loved how you did the effort of everything pushing bitcoin as payment method.
According to the article though. Seems like that is not really the point here.

[BitBite5]

No matter all digital processes and rise of cryptocurrencies cash will not disappear. Many people still have that habit and don't trust other payment methods or just don't want to leave traces. Total cashless society will be never achieved, people love banknotes.

[CryptoBry]

There is no mistake about it, there is a big trend that many countries are going to go cashless or less use of the fiat money and more into digital ways of conducting, transacting business everyday. Maybe the biggest reason is that cashless is more convenient as there is no more need to be bringing paper money which can be hazardous at times. On the side of the government, the most important thing is that all transactions can be traced from now on, something which they find some difficulty when people are using the usual cash where paper trail in many cases can be hard to establish. I am not sure if this can mean that we are also drifting into a controlled society in this way.

However, the biggest question for us in the cryptocurrency community is this: Will going cashless means that people will be going to Bitcoin or at least cryptocurrency at the very least. Concluding yes can be hard to establish and maybe we should be waiting for years before we can see the direct correlation between these two big trends: going cashless and going Bitcoin. Let's just hope that somehow this can prod people to adopt cryptocurrency.

[hilariousetc]

Bitcoin is the future
We’ve taken a look at how Bitcoin will rise as EU cash payments fall, and the future is looking pretty exciting. As cash payments plummet around the world, but particularly in Europe, it makes more and more sense for us to accept the cryptocurrency as a valid and viable payment method. Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency with the largest market cap, really is the only crypto contender to replace cash in Europe.

Cash payments have been falling around the world for a long time now. The advent of debit cards and mobile and online payment systems have made things vastly more convenient for us - something which many of us take for granted. Bitcoin will change this further. A digital future includes cryptocurrencies, there’s no denying that.

https://www.tap.global/how-bitcoin-will-rise-as-eu-cash-payments-fall

Digital payments are the future, but probably not bitcoin. Cash will almost certainly be obsolete within our generation and one of the only complaints I've seen from people against getting rid of it are old people who still use cash because they fear or don't understand the tech, but in 20-30 years when they all die off they'll likely be no excuses, but this all doesn't mean that people will be flocking to bitcoin. Have you ever seen anyone using bitcoin to buy anything in the real world? Nope. It's rarity unless it's a niche shop that accepts bitcoin and people go out of their way to find it or shop there. People mostly just use their debit/credit card or phone apps these days and that's what they'll continue to use, though I guess we might see bitcoin integrated into these payment processors eventually as they become more popular/prevalent and the merchant just gets the cash equivalent. Eventually there might even be things like RFID implants or other sorts of devices that include them (bands or rings etc) that people will use to pay with but I think phone payments will eventually reign supreme because lets face it, nobody really leaves the house without their phone on them.

[Linkkoin]

I did not notice the great desire of the countries of the European Union to get rid of cash.

In some eurozone countries, they do not mint anymore 1 and 2 Eurocent coins (and in general all the payments in cash are rounded to .05 or .00 value). And the discussion is already taking place, as technically without cash (in the opinion of many people) money laundering would not be possible.
This, of course, would have potential big-brother style impact on people (imagine that bank could sell/forward some data of yours to authorities and other companies - so then if you eat fast-food frequently and buy it with your own card, your health insurance would be twice higher than now).

[Xxmodded]

Bitcoin is the future
We’ve taken a look at how Bitcoin will rise as EU cash payments fall, and the future is looking pretty exciting. As cash payments plummet around the world, but particularly in Europe, it makes more and more sense for us to accept the cryptocurrency as a valid and viable payment method. Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency with the largest market cap, really is the only crypto contender to replace cash in Europe.

Cash payments have been falling around the world for a long time now. The advent of debit cards and mobile and online payment systems have made things vastly more convenient for us - something which many of us take for granted. Bitcoin will change this further. A digital future includes cryptocurrencies, there’s no denying that.

https://www.tap.global/how-bitcoin-will-rise-as-eu-cash-payments-fall

Digital payments are the future, but probably not bitcoin. Cash will almost certainly be obsolete within our generation and one of the only complaints I've seen from people against getting rid of it are old people who still use cash because they fear or don't understand the tech, but in 20-30 years when they all die off they'll likely be no excuses, but this all doesn't mean that people will be flocking to bitcoin. Have you ever seen anyone using bitcoin to buy anything in the real world? Nope. It's rarity unless it's a niche shop that accepts bitcoin and people go out of their way to find it or shop there. People mostly just use their debit/credit card or phone apps these days and that's what they'll continue to use, though I guess we might see bitcoin integrated into these payment processors eventually as they become more popular/prevalent and the merchant just gets the cash equivalent. Eventually there might even be things like RFID implants or other sorts of devices that include them (bands or rings etc) that people will use to pay with but I think phone payments will eventually reign supreme because lets face it, nobody really leaves the house without their phone on them.

Fiat currency could be digital payment at the future and have accepted from now but with bitcoin many feature getting by investor, seller and buyer if use bitcoin as payment transaction, look ahead with fiat currency payment always have inflation value every year and have different with bitcoin can increase higher price depend how much bitcoin can raise up to higher price.

[3la9l_kolbaCa]

You're talking about all of the EU, but every country has its differences. I live just a bit outside of the EU, and some places still don't accept anything but cash, so answering the first question in the post I paid with cash today on multiple occasions where there was no card payment option.
I've recently been to Sweden, though, and the cashless stuff they say about it is totally true. I've been there for 4 days and I did not use cash even once, it was very convenient! Italy, however, is known for not being as card-friendly as other EU countries and often requiring cash.
If the trend continues, though, countries might either encourage people to pay with card/smartphones in local fiat or there can appear solid state-controlled cryptos, but I don't see how Bitcoin would benefit from that.

Thank you for the information.

Where else could we really get the real answers but only with the locals there.
Here is one who had been there and tried payments in different stores.

This might just be another advertisement for their application.

https://www.tap.global/how-bitcoin-will-rise-as-eu-cash-payments-fall

I loved how you did the effort of everything pushing bitcoin as payment method.
According to the article though. Seems like that is not really the point here.

This will be pushed to become a payment of all goods even though it's for basic needs, and cryptocurrency isn't intended all alone for digital goods. Many reasons came out from every individuals, that's why it's more interesting nowadays and most of the discussions pertains directly for the interest of everyone to bitcoin.
Cash payments is ineffective once the system will shutdown, and thereafter bitcoin solves the possible delays of transactions.

[hatshepsut93]

Digital payments are the future, but probably not bitcoin. Cash will almost certainly be obsolete within our generation and one of the only complaints I've seen from people against getting rid of it are old people who still use cash because they fear or don't understand the tech, but in 20-30 years when they all die off they'll likely be no excuses, but this all doesn't mean that people will be flocking to bitcoin. Have you ever seen anyone using bitcoin to buy anything in the real world? Nope. It's rarity unless it's a niche shop that accepts bitcoin and people go out of their way to find it or shop there. People mostly just use their debit/credit card or phone apps these days and that's what they'll continue to use, though I guess we might see bitcoin integrated into these payment processors eventually as they become more popular/prevalent and the merchant just gets the cash equivalent. Eventually there might even be things like RFID implants or other sorts of devices that include them (bands or rings etc) that people will use to pay with but I think phone payments will eventually reign supreme because lets face it, nobody really leaves the house without their phone on them.

If we take just western world, there's still a huge contrast between countries that are going to be nearly cashless soon and those that still cling to cash and don't hurry to switch away from it. Probably the single biggest reason for staying with cash is tax evasion - merchants accept cash to avoid reporting transactions, employers pay salaries in cash to avoid social security taxes. As long as people will want to evade taxes, cash will exist, and it could be very hard for some government to fight it, attempts to quickly jump to cashless society could be met with protests.

[hilariousetc]

Digital payments are the future, but probably not bitcoin. Cash will almost certainly be obsolete within our generation and one of the only complaints I've seen from people against getting rid of it are old people who still use cash because they fear or don't understand the tech, but in 20-30 years when they all die off they'll likely be no excuses, but this all doesn't mean that people will be flocking to bitcoin. Have you ever seen anyone using bitcoin to buy anything in the real world? Nope. It's rarity unless it's a niche shop that accepts bitcoin and people go out of their way to find it or shop there. People mostly just use their debit/credit card or phone apps these days and that's what they'll continue to use, though I guess we might see bitcoin integrated into these payment processors eventually as they become more popular/prevalent and the merchant just gets the cash equivalent. Eventually there might even be things like RFID implants or other sorts of devices that include them (bands or rings etc) that people will use to pay with but I think phone payments will eventually reign supreme because lets face it, nobody really leaves the house without their phone on them.

If we take just western world, there's still a huge contrast between countries that are going to be nearly cashless soon and those that still cling to cash and don't hurry to switch away from it. Probably the single biggest reason for staying with cash is tax evasion - merchants accept cash to avoid reporting transactions, employers pay salaries in cash to avoid social security taxes.

Well tax evasion is surely then the biggest reason why the powers that be will want to change it to digital. Cash is far too anonymous for them and that's why criminals favour it. There's even been talk in some countries of getting rid of things like the 50 or 100 denomination notes because they're the notes of choice for criminals. I think it was only a few years ago that I first saw a £50 note in person because they're that rare. Many shops wont even accept them because they're that suspcious of them and they're the most likely note to be counterfeited given their value. That's why I think it's inevitable we will eventually transition to a blockchain based system because govs can track exactly how much you're earning and also what you're spending it on, which is slightly scary and Orwellian but I think that's the way we're heading. I think most bushiness that deal with cash or the self-employed probably diddle their taxes or misreport their earnings in some way and it's very easy to do when there's no records or you're the one that's in charge of keeping the records in the first place and a public ledger of all transactions would likely put an end to that pretty swiftly.

As long as people will want to evade taxes, cash will exist, and it could be very hard for some government to fight it, attempts to quickly jump to cashless society could be met with protests.

This doesn't really make sense and seems to suggest the opposite of what you're claiming. What power would criminals have to keep the government making cash?
If the government stops issuing it then there's nothing they can do unless they invent their own paper currency. People complaining, and especially criminals, isn't really going to make a difference and I don't think that would be an issue as cash will just become obsolete gradually over time naturally so it's inevitable it will disappear eventually as people will just stop using it and criminals wanting to tax evade obviously isn't a reason the government will keep printing and minting it.

[hatshepsut93]

This doesn't really make sense and seems to suggest the opposite of what you're claiming. What power would criminals have to keep the government making cash?
If the government stops issuing it then there's nothing they can do unless they invent their own paper currency. People complaining, and especially criminals, isn't really going to make a difference and I don't think that would be an issue as cash will just become obsolete gradually over time naturally so it's inevitable it will disappear eventually as people will just stop using it and criminals wanting to tax evade obviously isn't a reason the government will keep printing and minting it.

It all hugely depends on a country, if Sweden announced tomorrow that they start removing cash, there would be some angry posts on the internet and maybe a hundred of protestors, if the same happened in Greece, there would be riots. But I agree with your point that cash will be slowly and naturally fading away, and that's how Bitcoin will start getting more attention - people will view it as digital cash. Bitcoin is not a part of cashless society, it's a direct opposition to it.

[hilariousetc]

This doesn't really make sense and seems to suggest the opposite of what you're claiming. What power would criminals have to keep the government making cash?
If the government stops issuing it then there's nothing they can do unless they invent their own paper currency. People complaining, and especially criminals, isn't really going to make a difference and I don't think that would be an issue as cash will just become obsolete gradually over time naturally so it's inevitable it will disappear eventually as people will just stop using it and criminals wanting to tax evade obviously isn't a reason the government will keep printing and minting it.

It all hugely depends on a country, if Sweden announced tomorrow that they start removing cash, there would be some angry posts on the internet and maybe a hundred of protestors, if the same happened in Greece, there would be riots. But I agree with your point that cash will be slowly and naturally fading away, and that's how Bitcoin will start getting more attention - people will view it as digital cash. Bitcoin is not a part of cashless society, it's a direct opposition to it.

It's really already happening in Sweden and there's been lots of attention on the fact that it's becoming mostly cashless and likely will become the first fully digital economy fairly soon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe-j5D9CNPY

 Ikea already don't take cash and they stopped accepting cash for their public transport recently. Most are already in favour of it but as I mentioned above some of their old people aren't liking it but they're not going to be around forever so it will gradually become more prevalent and make cash obsolete. A lot of the arguments from the elderly seem to be based on really naive views like smartphones are too expensive etc. Sure, a brand new iPhone might be but you can get a decent smart phone for hardly anything these days. Cash is a dinosaur really and it is going to extinct whether people like it or not. It's only a matter of time and fighting it is futile.

[NeuroticFish]

A lot of the arguments from the elderly seem to be based on really naive views like smartphones are too expensive etc. Sure, a brand new iPhone might be but you can get a decent smart phone for hardly anything these days. Cash is a dinosaur really and it is going to extinct whether people like it or not. It's only a matter of time and fighting it is futile.

You are right. But that "matter of time" is actually the time needed for "a new generation of elderly people" replace the current one.
The "expensive phone" is indeed a fake problem. Many of them receive for free their kids' 2 year old phone.
Imho the real problem the elderly people have is that the technology is "strange" for many of them. My mom is afraid of using her debit card (!), I simply cannot expect from her to pay with the phone at a shop.

[stompix]

Cash is far too anonymous for them and that's why criminals favour it. There's even been talk in some countries of getting rid of things like the 50 or 100 denomination notes because they're the notes of choice for criminals. I think it was only a few years ago that I first saw a £50 note in person because they're that rare. Many shops wont even accept them because they're that suspcious of them and they're the most likely note to be counterfeited given their value.

A few years ago I had to go to the bank and withdraw around 20k euros to buy some agricultural equipment from some guys around our county, obviously second hand and obviously not a business transaction with receipts or pay via card option  
So, the girl at the desk processed the order and handed me a pack of 100x200 euros bills.
I nicely told her, "You know miss, I'm no drug dealer but please give me the money in 50 and 20 bills"  
Good thing the 500 were not still around as I would have smacked her with those, nobody but the bank was accepting 500 bills, even the cashier at the Aldi I visit every two or three days said they are not taking them.

It all hugely depends on a country, if Sweden announced tomorrow that they start removing cash, there would be some angry posts on the internet and maybe a hundred of protestors, if the same happened in Greece, there would be riots. But I agree with your point that cash will be slowly and naturally fading away, and that's how Bitcoin will start getting more attention - people will view it as digital cash. Bitcoin is not a part of cashless society, it's a direct opposition to it.

Forget Greece, there will be riots in Germany, they also had a plan of introducing a 5000 euro limits on payments but the feedback from the population made them rethink the whole situation. I don't know why they cling to cash but it's not because of age, even youngsters walk around with their pockets full of banknotes and coins.

This doesn't really make sense and seems to suggest the opposite of what you're claiming. What power would criminals have to keep the government making cash?
If the government stops issuing it then there's nothing they can do unless they invent their own paper currency.

This makes me think of a way to keep both the cabbage and the goat in one piece.
Simply print only low denomination banknotes like 1 and 2 euros.

Are drug dealers going to walk around with 20 packs of cash on them? Probably not! Nor are restaurants or clubs going to deal with the trouble of having to count 300 bills from each customer, rather than hiring two people to count bills they would simply stop the tax evasion.
And grandma won't have anything to be angry about either, it's not that the average elderly person would have to carry too many of those while doing groceries.

[Asmonist]

I think it will eventually do. A cashless society is coming and I know its not that can happen easily. There are regulations and right timing as well. Traditional people are very conservative and we cannot eliminate it. We all know the significance and efficient transactions cab be. A faster and lesser processing time are most of the customers demand. If its not happening fully now, most likely in the next decades.