Disappearance of cash and bitcoin as an alternative?

[Becassine]

Atm has been disappearing for years now (not completly  ). With the Covid crisis, people were encouraged to pay by CB on the pretext that banknotes could carry viruses. Some banks refuse cash deposits and withdrawals. Some currencies are worthless: sometimes they're used to fuel fires, or to create bags (Venezuelan bolivares, for example). What does the future hold for cash, and can btc become an alternative?

Thank you

[1715181281]

1715181281

[Hatchy]

Speaking of cash(papernotes), it's adoption has gradually been reducing over recent years now and with the development of new technologies soon the government would see no need to print paper currency when every transaction could be carried out virtually online.

  In my country we recently experienced a cash scarcity which lasted for more than 2 months due to the governments inability to manage or plan ahead before imposing the change of our old currency interface. During this period all over the country, people began to adopt the online payment system even for payment as small as a pinch of salt. We all had no choice but to adopt.

 Now, what I'm trying to say here is that negative events can bring forth both positive and negative change to the world. Up till now, even after our money issues has been resolved people still use online banking to carry out transaction and prefer it to cash(paper notes) soon the world will adopt online digital currency (cryptocurrency) but I don't think that paper notes would ceize to exist or disappear totally

[Husires]

No, I don't think so, a lot of transactions are still settled in cash< see and after 2020 more than a quarter of transactions are still settled in cash and it's a preferred option for many when you want to trade from the local store or pay for daily requirements. I expect this percentage to continue to decline, from 71% in 2019 to 25%, which is a significant change, but if we reach zero, this may take more than 50 years.

Source

61% transactions were settled with debt, which shows that sometimes cash makes us feel guilty when we spend a lot of it. While I can pay 10,000 dollars with a single click, the pain it causes when I pay it with cash is greater.

[cabron]

There are still places so remote, they don't have access to the internet and it will take time before the people in those remote areas start using phones for their digital money.  Cash may disappear in major cities but eventually, all will be digital in a decade or 2 from now.

Bitcoin will continue its adoption and so are the other cryptocurrencies. I think banks will be using them as well given that IMF had completely turned 180% admitting that crypto is here to stay. https://cointelegraph.com/news/imf-banning-crypto-not-effective-in-long-run

[Zaguru12]

What does the future hold for cash, and can btc become an alternative?

I think the era of cash (paper money) is gradually diminishing as many people turn towards digital currency or even transferring through electronic means. If we read about the recent reports that the fiat devaluation is actually caused by the excessive number of paper money printed not to talk of the expensive amount spend on the printing process this cash, this has actually prompted the government to promote the method of cashless policy which has brought about the creation of fintechs. This factors have had an impact of cash been used less. But I don’t think that total cash less policy can be achieved sooner or later because there are rural areas that still the basic network service to run this cashless policy. Also the transaction fees and sometimes the slow payment process during transaction is a thing that would still make it hard to get away from using cash.

Yes bitcoin is already an alternative because many people run both inter or intra border transactions using the bitcoin. Because aside the slow transaction process and the high transactions fees it so much more secure than the even the fiat transfers.

[Lorence.xD]

This is actually a good thread, but as of now I think it would be impossible for Bitcoin to take over to current currencies right now since most countries are depended on it. But I already found some countries that their fiat money doesn't even have value or worthless that they make it use as a toilet paper. You could be called as millionaire and poor at the same time. With this maybe Bitcoin could be a good alternative as the country aren't dependent to fiat money. Only thing they need to think of is how they could implement it when Bitcoin is a decentralized system to the country.

[m2017]

Atm has been disappearing for years now. With the Covid crisis, people were encouraged to pay by CB on the pretext that banknotes could carry viruses. Some banks refuse cash deposits and withdrawals. Some currencies are worthless: sometimes they're used to fuel fires, or to create bags (Venezuelan bolivares, for example). What does the future hold for cash, and can btc become an alternative?

Thank you

At 99.9%, I expect that cash in the future (or the near future) will be withdrawn from circulation. This is primarily due to the fact that this money can't be tracked, and it is cash that is 100% anonymous, and not bitcoin. Because it is impossible to track the chain of users, transactions, and so on.

Bitcoin by 99.9% will not be an alternative to cash. This role is destined for CBDC.

[Maidak]

Even if cash goes away, bitcoin won't be the alternative, it's still the same old problem that the government will never let happen. Surely, many people like us will look to bitcoin in the future when countries' cash is gradually becoming worthless. But the biggest hurdle will still be the government, they will try to stop and stop people from using bitcoin as an alternative to their fiat currency.

[Ambatman]

No, The country would rather create their own digital currency
As can be seen of certain countries now
Plastic money came to replace paper money
Cause of its disadvantages
So there is still a future in the short term
Cash is getting less prevalent because
It's easier to transfer via phone or with an ATM
Than carrying Cash
Not everybody have easy access to the internet
Cash might become irrelevant when everybody have access to a digital means of payment

[vv181]

What does the future hold for cash, and can btc become an alternative?

Yes, Bitcoin can be an alternative. Though, the adoption won't be as massive as what the government's solution, say digital cash or CBDC. Without a doubt, the vision of a cashless society is nothing new. bitcoins wont to replace FIAT. There is a technical limitation and surely governments do not like a currency that is beyond their own control.

One might argue, the lightning network might be able to solve the scalability problem. Nevertheless, it is very unlikely that Bitcoin can be fully replaces FIAT currencies. So, it is not a scalability problem. In fact, since its inception bitcoin is not meant or visioned as a replacement.

[Mate2237]

Op what you are saying is impossible. And ATM which you are saying that disappeared has not disappeared. ATM is still effective in my country. And from the onset bitcoin was and is the alternative currency in the Economic world. In my country even the Covid 19 period, citizens were using the banknotes very but the only thing we did we the social distancing, washing of hands and wearing my f nose mask.

In this world I know cash will never disappear but the printing of cash will reduce so with that the cash flow will also reduce to some extent for the digital currencies to supersede. At that time countries will also utilize their digital currencies.

[Razmirraz]

There will be a time when cash will lose its existence, the advantages that Bitcoin has are increasingly attracting people around the world. Bitcoin can be used as a medium to transfer value from one point to any point around the world without going through a third party, for this reason Bitcoin has the potential to become an alternative medium for transactions or the role of cash will soon be replaced.

Even though there are still many countries that have not made Bitcoin a means of payment, technological developments are inevitable. Currently cash still plays an important role as a transaction tool, but we must be more active in educating our families and relatives to use non-cash transactions before cash disappears from the surface of the earth.

Robert Reich once said this

There will be a time (I don’t know when), I can’t give you a date when physical money is just going to cease to exist.

My assumption is that sooner or later cash will disappear from circulation because nothing can fight technological developments.

[mk4]

Bitcoin isn't necessarily the alternative to physical cash — digital fiat is. You know — PayPal, Venmo, CashApp, or whatever your local version of these apps are.

Bitcoin doesn't solve the physical problem of cash — bitcoin solves the monetary problems of fiat money.

[Sim_card]

Paper money is costly to print and has led to high inflation because government always print more money to pump into the society when there is inflation,thinking that it will solve the problem not knowing that it will lead to hyper inflation. Paper money is vulnerable to to attack compared to using online transactions. Gradually,I think paper money will diminish with time. It is easy to make transactions electronically and good to pay very huge sum of money compared to paper money that will make people notice you. Paper money has so many disadvantages and the world has come to realize this. Technology has taken over the world to make life more easy and comfortable. Bitcoin will remain the alternative currency to fiat but it will be a digital fiat.

[usekevin]

ATM is used to circulate the money among the people,it was monitored by the central government.When the government want to control the money among the people,they can control using the ATM.They can stop the money flow or reduce the money flow among the people using ATM.When demonstration occurred,the filling of money to the ATM is command by the central bank of such country.May be it will be used to reduce the flow and control the capitalist economy also in the country.

[Becassine]

Op what you are saying is impossible. And ATM which you are saying that disappeared has not disappeared. ATM is still effective in my country.

yes of course the atm hasn't completely disappeared, I forgot a word, sorry 

[uneng]

Bitcoin won't replace cash, because it's a very volatile currency and people fear financial unstability. When you say ATMs are losing popularity, it means people are turning from paper money to digital money, but still using the national currency version of this, not decentralized cryptocurrencies. The alternative people go for is always the most stable one. That is why we have the world using Dollar as exchange reserve and every country trying to control their centralized currencies in a desperate attempt to keep them most stable as possible.

And when they fail doing so, there is a lot of financial troubles, riots, investors running from the country, governments using force to intimidate citizens. I imagine if Bitcoin was adopted as currency by one country or another we would see these things happening as well, because human beings aren't prepared to live in environments characterized by volatility, uncertainity and doubt 24 hours.

[The Cryptovator]

As the world embraces digitalization, numerous electronic payment systems have been integrated into the fiat ecosystem. While we are increasingly conducting cashless transactions through fiat currencies, it is unlikely that Bitcoin will replace the traditional fiat system. Although people have become familiar with Mobile Financial Services (MFS) systems, a significant portion of the population remains unaware of Bitcoin. This lack of awareness can be attributed to the fact that fiat systems are endorsed and regulated by governments, whereas Bitcoin operates independently.

[Becassine]

Your answers are very interesting, and not everyone is entirely of the same opinion. Nevertheless, with increasing digitalization, cash is gradually being replaced by new tools. It all depends on the country, of course, but on the whole, with the exception of El Salvador, governments are keen to introduce CBDCs all over the world. But how will politicians get their suitcases of cash? Perhaps the corruption of the "elites" itself will slow down the disappearance of cash? They're not going to shoot themselves in the foot, are they?

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

What does the future hold for cash, and can btc become an alternative?

Thank you

About that, I have a great doubt that cash can permanently go out of use. The value can deteriorate continually, but it will never be stopped. Even if Bitcoin becomes a global legal tender, physical money will never be displaced. But, normally, I don't think Bitcoin can be legally accepted in every part of the world; it's likely to only be in some countries. I know that change is constant, but even if anything happens and we stop using physical cash, maybe every payment is carried out electronically, via transfers or pay cards, and it will still be the local currency we are using.


Cheers 🥂, Dr.Bitcoin_Strange 👺👺

[darkangel11]

IMO cash is not going away anytime soon.
Many countries have the use and acceptance of cash written in their constitution. Slovakia has recently added it as a response to the European Central Bank push for digital Euro.
It reminds me of how some states in the US made laws to allow free bitcoin mining when the government tried to attack it. There will always be a pushback whenever they try to enforce such laws.
ATMs aren't going away, they're just being limited due to new money laundering laws around the world. They want to decrease the cash flow for easier surveillance and control since paying with cash allows for some anonymity and that's what the government doesn't like, but it's not like they can tell you all to stop using cash.

[Faisal2202]

What's the essence in asking this question while we all know, why BTC originated, why we needed it. To fight financial crisis, so what does financial crisis means. It means devaluation of cash, no access and control over cash. Unlimited supply of cash, and total destruction of money.

Above factors are only few ones from the list of why BTC was made? Well, ignoring them, what i think is, BTC will replace cash as i prefer to store any money (of course enough to pay fee) into BTC. Why? Because sometimes i went to Bank to use atm and ATM are closed. Why? Because they said, there is no money in national reserves so they just put that notice on the Door of ATM and people with less knowledge just ignore the sign and come after that day to store more money into the bank. (People like me just get more scared).

I totally agree with you and i do want BTC to replace Cash but still BTC has no potential to be selected as single cash, as every country has its own cash form and for BTC to be adopted equally (single cash = single form of money) overall the world, this needs some big changes and of course a transactions from single country will make the BTC blockchain more congested that each transaction will takes several months to complete.

[Becassine]

What's the essence in asking this question while we all know, why BTC originated, why we needed it. To fight financial crisis, so what does financial crisis means. It means devaluation of cash, no access and control over cash. Unlimited supply of cash, and total destruction of money.

Above factors are only few ones from the list of why BTC was made? Well, ignoring them, what i think is, BTC will replace cash as i prefer to store any money (of course enough to pay fee) into BTC. Why? Because sometimes i went to Bank to use atm and ATM are closed. Why? Because they said, there is no money in national reserves so they just put that notice on the Door of ATM and people with less knowledge just ignore the sign and come after that day to store more money into the bank. (People like me just get more scared).

I totally agree with you and i do want BTC to replace Cash but still BTC has no potential to be selected as single cash, as every country has its own cash form and for BTC to be adopted equally (single cash = single form of money) overall the world, this needs some big changes and of course a transactions from single country will make the BTC blockchain more congested that each transaction will takes several months to complete.

Why do I ask? Because I realized that sometimes things seemed obvious to me, but in fact other people might think differently (very differently). When I posted a question about how to orange pill friends for example, I never imagined that the expression "orange pill" could sound negative. I think it's very important to have different opinions so as not to get stuck in one's own views/ideas.

[DapanasFruit]

Right now, we are in the verge - or the founding stage - of digitalization most especially with many countries already experimenting the use of CBDCs. I am sure that in the coming years there can be a big push for more and more digital-based transactions even going down to the lowest level which is the consumers and here in my country this is already happening though we are not yet as advanced as Western economies. Now, having said that, I am not inclined to believe that cash as we know it will be totally wiped out as some will still prefer to be traditional and we have to respect that.

[ancafe]

Atm has been disappearing for years now (not completly  ). With the Covid crisis, people were encouraged to pay by CB on the pretext that banknotes could carry viruses. Some banks refuse cash deposits and withdrawals. Some currencies are worthless: sometimes they're used to fuel fires, or to create bags (Venezuelan bolivares, for example). What does the future hold for cash, and can btc become an alternative

This is not entirely true and paper currency is still a means of payment and for now ATMs have not disappeared and are still used in general in several areas freely. Where do you get the information that cash and ATMs are disappearing for now and there are some areas that haven't been widely touched by the internet so it takes a process for bitcoin to become an option for everyone. Cash is still circulating and there is no guarantee how long it will stop because after all cash is still the medium of payment used by most people today.

Bitcoin will find much greater adoption over time and indeed its growth will be even greater, but it will not replace cash as an alternative anytime soon as many people still use cash as a legal means of transaction. For the future, we never know whether bitcoin will become an alternative because so far we have only used bitcoin as an investment.

[Husires]

This is not entirely true and paper currency is still a means of payment and for now ATMs have not disappeared and are still used in general in several areas freely.

Inflation and digitization may be among the things that led to the limited use of automatic teller machines (ATMs), I mean that these machines do not give a lot of cash, and with inflation, the value of money withdrawn is greater than that which these machines can absorb. Countries such as Brazil, Turkey, and Venezuela, which were affected by hyperinflation, will decrease. Where is the percentage of use of ATMs.

In areas where there is no Internet, there are solutions for payment by EMS messages and some centralized solutions, which have been popular in some African countries. M-Pesa is a service that does this in Africa.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-Pesa

The reasons for the need to transfer cash have decreased significantly, and reliance on banks has become a basic form.

[UchihaSarada]

Atm has been disappearing for years now (not completly  ). With the Covid crisis, people were encouraged to pay by CB on the pretext that banknotes could carry viruses. Some banks refuse cash deposits and withdrawals.

What is CB?

Those practices during pandemic and when there was no vaccine for the world population are vital to control the virus spread and minimize infected cases, severe cases and deaths. It returned to normal gradually since the world had vaccines and started to massively vaccine population.

Some currencies are worthless: sometimes they're used to fuel fires, or to create bags (Venezuelan bolivares, for example).

Those fiat currencies from such countries are different. They are bad nations with serious economics, political crises and failed to control inflation. Those hyper inflation in those nations even appeared years before a pandemic outbreak.

What does the future hold for cash, and can btc become an alternative?

Bitcoin will become one of alternative, like CBDCs and altcoins, gold, silver. It will never be the only alternative for cash and cash won't disappear globally in financial flows.

[Oasisman]

Cash won't disappear or phased out , at least not in the next 20 years or so. There are still a lot people who prefer to pay for transactions through cash, especially in the third world country where there's more than half the population who are not computer literate. They even find banks and ATM a complex thing to take and deposit their money. Let along understanding Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency.
These people who just used the e-wallets they are constantly getting scammed and as a result they have preferred back in using cash.

[Becassine]

Atm has been disappearing for years now (not completly  ). With the Covid crisis, people were encouraged to pay by CB on the pretext that banknotes could carry viruses. Some banks refuse cash deposits and withdrawals.

What is CB?

Those practices during pandemic and when there was no vaccine for the world population are vital to control the virus spread and minimize infected cases, severe cases and deaths. It returned to normal gradually since the world had vaccines and started to massively vaccine population.

Oups sorry, it comes from french : CB = carte bancaire = credit card

In any case, one thing is certain: credit card payments are enriching Visa, Mastercard and others.

Cash won't disappear or phased out , at least not in the next 20 years or so. There are still a lot people who prefer to pay for transactions through cash, especially in the third world country where there's more than half the population who are not computer literate. They even find banks and ATM a complex thing to take and deposit their money. Let along understanding Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency.
These people who just used the e-wallets they are constantly getting scammed and as a result they have preferred back in using cash.

Yes, I hadn't thought of that! It's obvious though, it's a bit of a hassle sometimes, and indeed, malicious "help" can really do damage.

[kryptqnick]

It seems to me that the distribution of ATMs and the popularity of cash depend a lot on the kind of country we're dealing with. Some countries actively resist the trend of becoming cashless economies, and there are also rural vs urban differences (cash is often more prevalent in rural areas).
I like that the op's poll allows choosing multiple options. I chose the first one because I don't think cash will be replaced by Bitcoin (although I don't think it's a conspiracy either). I also chose #3 because I've seen examples of strong cashless economies where you sometimes can't even pay in cash (or pay more in cash than by card). That being said, it doesn't mean that Bitcoin is actively adopted there, as cash is often simply replaced by cards.

[so98nn]

Atm has been disappearing for years now (not completly  ). With the Covid crisis, people were encouraged to pay by CB on the pretext that banknotes could carry viruses. Some banks refuse cash deposits and withdrawals. Some currencies are worthless: sometimes they're used to fuel fires, or to create bags (Venezuelan bolivares, for example). What does the future hold for cash, and can btc become an alternative?

Thank you

Well, that is not entirely true. There are still thousands of ATMs in every city and county, and the number is always growing. The number of ATMs also has got nothing to do with the disappearance of the cash. When it comes to big businesses and big deals users can not withdraw enough cash from the ATM and then at that time it's taken from the Bank directly. ATMs are just for a small amount of money that is needed and can be withdrawn now and then. However, still, a big chunk of users would go to the banks and withdraw or cash out their money.

Cash will coexist in the future. Though the digital world is rising at one end, it has zero impact on the reduced usage of cash. Many of the oldies would still prefer the cash and this rate is huge in the America or other western countries.

[ancafe]

Inflation and digitization may be among the things that led to the limited use of automatic teller machines (ATMs), I mean that these machines do not give a lot of cash, and with inflation, the value of money withdrawn is greater than that which these machines can absorb. Countries such as Brazil, Turkey, and Venezuela, which were affected by hyperinflation, will decrease. Where is the percentage of use of ATMs.

In areas where there is no Internet, there are solutions for payment by EMS messages and some centralized solutions, which have been popular in some African countries. M-Pesa is a service that does this in Africa.

Maybe the three countries you mentioned are a small part of the limitations of using automated teller machines (ATMs), in general, ATM machines have a limited amount of money in them and the Bank has to try to top it up regularly every time people take lots of money. For my country this does not yet apply to scarcity or reduction and ATM machines are still an alternative used by people and we don't even need to queue at the teller to deposit money because cash ATMs are available.

Talk of depreciating in value may be true that fiat currency has a dipping point and this is not a solution to holding fiat currency long term and most people are trying to find alternatives to store value.

The reasons for the need to transfer cash have decreased significantly, and reliance on banks has become a basic form.

For this problem you are right and I do not deny because indeed money has depreciated, thus forcing people to look for an alternative in hedging. Various factors have put money at the stage of losing trust, but whether we realize it or not we still need it enough.

[Minhxx]

Atm has been disappearing for years now (not completly  ). With the Covid crisis, people were encouraged to pay by CB on the pretext that banknotes could carry viruses. Some banks refuse cash deposits and withdrawals. Some currencies are worthless: sometimes they're used to fuel fires, or to create bags (Venezuelan bolivares, for example). What does the future hold for cash, and can btc become an alternative?

Thank you

i think cash will not be lost , it is still traded in small locales . Most people choose wire transfer payment method because of its convenience. I hope my country will accept bitcoin in the future.

[Despairo]

Assuming cash is disappearing, do you think debit/credit card and other digital fiat can't be used to replace cash? I don't see Bitcoin is an alternative as a currency when they don't have cash or digital fiat at the moment. I'd say they will negotiate with the seller and give their valuable thing as a collateral, then they will comeback into their house to grab some cash or credit/debit card to pay the bills.

Bitcoin is the last choice when they don't have cash, digital fiat or can't negotiate.

[crwth]

It shouldn't completely disappear, possibly in our lifetime. Many companies have already been going with paperless things, but it's still inevitable not to have any paper when running a business. It's always going to be that thing that exists. So in terms of money and currency, I don't think we will reach a point where there's no cash.

[BenCodie]

I am surprised that the votes are leaning toward conspiracy theory when governments and banks have both signalled the intention to abolish cash and restrict money to digital transactions in the future...it's not a conspiracy at this stage, it's factual.

The point in which governments do take this route will be when they need to reduce monetary supply significantly to increase the perceived value of money. A lot of illegal money will not be able to be traded in for digital currency, therefore a lot of supply will theoretically disappear. This point is sooner than what everyone may think, I believe within the next 3 - 9 years.

[yudi09]

Various excuses can be made if those in power in each country want to get rid of cash.
Like the history of fiat currency from ancient times to the present.
Indirectly I judge that the transaction system has started to change to digitization.
Many shopping stores now provide transactions via e-money.
When I forget to bring my debit or ATM card, I can still make transactions. In the past, maybe in the era of our parents, they forgot to bring a wallet containing paper money or coins, so I can say they couldn't do transactions.

-snip-
What does the future hold for cash, and can btc become an alternative?

I can't say for sure that it could happen.
I also can't give two choices out of the six you listed in the poll.

[KiaKia]

All this is all down to if Bitcoin is ever going to replace Fiat currency, I think we all know the answer to this already, if something will take over the Fiat currency I am sorry to say that it is never going to be Bitcoin, do not forget that the government knew about the advantages of digital currency that's why they coming out with CBDC and that's why they stamping crypto as an asset, with the ETF approval in the work, the whole steps is making some sense don't you think?

Unfortunately, Bitcoin is only a currency that will live within the people's hearts, it is money for the people alone. We will spend it and accept it only within ourselves.

[bluebit25]

I don't think this is a fair comparison in the financial system, can't speak to the limitations of one versus the potentialities of another. We are in a common environment I think need more harmony in economic as well as financial system, crypto or btc can bring good solution but it doesn't mean they are applied properly, just like fiat in the current context we still have to rely heavily on them and this is almost the place for us to do all other connected things in life. Perhaps over time as science and technology evolves the way money is used and viewed will change, maybe crypto will be an area where people actually use so much that it's like we are using money everyday.

[Mauser]

Atm has been disappearing for years now (not completly  ). With the Covid crisis, people were encouraged to pay by CB on the pretext that banknotes could carry viruses. Some banks refuse cash deposits and withdrawals. Some currencies are worthless: sometimes they're used to fuel fires, or to create bags (Venezuelan bolivares, for example). What does the future hold for cash, and can btc become an alternative?

Thank you

I think that in some countries Bitcoins are already a great alternative to the local currencies. Countries that have very high inflation makes dealing in their Fiat money hard as the value of the money changes so quickly. When businesses needs to change their prices multiple times a day to account for the hyper inflation, things are very bad and consumers might look for alternatives. Bitcoins would be the perfect alternative in such a case as it won't be affected by inflation in the same way. Another factor is the comfortability of paying with digital currencies, we don't need to carry around large amounts of cash anymore and can have a better overview over our expenses. When paying digitally we already have a summary of all our outgoing transactions, with cash it's much harder to keep on track of all the things we bought.

[Poker Player]

This is a topic I have talked about other times in the forum tangentially but I don't think in a thread dedicated exclusively to it. What is happening has already been summarized, the use of cash was gradually decreasing until during the Covid there was a push by the rulers saying that paying contactless was safer.

However, with the exception of specific countries, I believe that the elimination of cash will take time, although they will try to accelerate it. I believe that in most industrialized countries it may be at least a decade away.

As to whether Bitcoin is a good alternative, I don't think so, for reasons that have been explained a thousand times, mainly that it is a scarce commodity that is better to keep and not use to buy bread. But there will always be alternatives. Illegal businesses will continue to operate. Even corrupt politicians will continue to exist and if cash disappears they will use certain shitcoins or precious metals or who knows what, but there will be alternatives.

The bad thing is that everyone's daily life will be more controlled by companies and governments since many people of good taste do not use cash anymore, not caring that the data of everything they spend is in the hands of private companies. And essentially at the disposal of the authorities.

[Nrcewker]

Atm has been disappearing for years now (not completly  ). With the Covid crisis, people were encouraged to pay by CB on the pretext that banknotes could carry viruses. Some banks refuse cash deposits and withdrawals. Some currencies are worthless: sometimes they're used to fuel fires, or to create bags (Venezuelan bolivares, for example). What does the future hold for cash, and can btc become an alternative?

Thank you

No one will use BTC as cash. The reason is very simple. Bitcoins are limited in numbers, that is no more Bitcoins can created or made. Hence people will show more interest than using it as an digital asset. Yes you can trade the coins for something else, but can’t use it properly as a currency or money. People might use online way of transferring funds, like Apple wallet, cashapp, or internet banking, but using Bitcoins for this as an alternative will definitely not work according to me. Will love to hear other’s opinions on this.

[Iadegbola34]

It's true that ATMs have been disappearing gradually and COVID-19 did encourage the use of contactless payments. But let's not forget that cash still has its place. Many businesses and individuals still rely on it for various reasons. Plus, some banks may refuse cash, but they can't deny its widespread acceptance.

As for cryptocurrencies like BTC, they do offer an alternative, but they have their own challenges too. Adoption and stability are key concerns. While they have potential, it's unlikely that they will completely replace cash anytime soon.

[UchihaSarada]

Atm has been disappearing for years now (not completly  ). With the Covid crisis, people were encouraged to pay by CB on the pretext that banknotes could carry viruses. Some banks refuse cash deposits and withdrawals.

What is CB?

Those practices during pandemic and when there was no vaccine for the world population are vital to control the virus spread and minimize infected cases, severe cases and deaths. It returned to normal gradually since the world had vaccines and started to massively vaccine population.

Oups sorry, it comes from french : CB = carte bancaire = credit card

In any case, one thing is certain: credit card payments are enriching Visa, Mastercard and others.

I knew about Credit Card but did not know about Carte Bancaire (CB). With your information I learned that it is from French language.

Carte Bancaire from Google search is also for Bank cards, different types of card from banks.

No one will use BTC as cash. The reason is very simple.

Because Bitcoin is not cash. Like Gold is not cash and we can not use gold as cash.

Bitcoins are limited in numbers, that is no more Bitcoins can created or made.

We will have more bitcoins into circulating supply until 2140 when all 21 million bitcoins in its total supply will be created from Bitcoin block rewards.

Controlled supply, more correctly 20999999.9769 BTC are total supply of Bitcoin.

[Flexystar]

In fact, there are always more and more research about how notes can be improved for better security and visibility of the nations pride. Physical notes ain't going anywhere because they are still widely used. Many places or people are there who would always use the cash as mode of transactions. The more you go from urban to sub urban and down to village areas this trend goes up. Though we can safely say that urbans also use cash when it comes to bigger transactions. Many people still prefer to carry the cash and pay in the shops and malls. Have you ever seen the Walmart lines at the cash till? You can easily do a quick survey how people still carry the cash with them as it gives sense of having enough money or safe money. Also notice that, if you use your credit cards and stuff then you never end up calculating how much money we are spending. So yeah that is also screwed up for many peoples.

[Eternad]

Atm has been disappearing for years now (not completly  ). With the Covid crisis, people were encouraged to pay by CB on the pretext that banknotes could carry viruses. Some banks refuse cash deposits and withdrawals. Some currencies are worthless: sometimes they're used to fuel fires, or to create bags (Venezuelan bolivares, for example). What does the future hold for cash, and can btc become an alternative?

Thank you

Fiat has a digital version and now will have the blockchain version. So I doubt Bitcoin will be an alternative for fiat since the Government is the biggest hurdle for this dream to happened. It’s only possible if people choose Bitcoin as an alternative voluntarily but I doubt that the majority will follow on this kind of movement.

Government will always find a way to advertise fiat over other cryptocurrencies that they can’t control since they re benefiting much on unlimited print rather than Bitcoin limited supply which they don’t have ny control.

[GH2022]

A 'Britcoin' has been proposed for the UK by both Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, therefore who knows.

I think that cash or at least a physical token for 'bartering' at the very, very least will always be here - especially if Sergei presses the 'shut all the digital terminals off' button from his home computer in Russia.

Having seen people go nuts when App and Card terminals go down, cash will always have its place whether people like it or not.

There's room for App, Card, Cash/Physical Token and Bitcoin/Crypto as payment options - one doesn't have to rule, all can rule together and coexist.

[AmoreJaz]

A 'Britcoin' has been proposed for the UK by both Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, therefore who knows.

I think that cash or at least a physical token for 'bartering' at the very, very least will always be here - especially if Sergei presses the 'shut all the digital terminals off' button from his home computer in Russia.

Having seen people go nuts when App and Card terminals go down, cash will always have its place whether people like it or not.

There's room for App, Card, Cash/Physical Token and Bitcoin/Crypto as payment options - one doesn't have to rule, all can rule together and coexist.

what am looking at this situation here is that we should be grateful that bitcoin was created. it can exist harmoniously with fiat. and fiat won't go away anytime soon. there are so many financial activities that we are still relying on with fiat. just use both and take advantage of the opportunity that they offer to us.
i don't think we will see the disappearance of cash in our lifetime. but i can agree that the use of digital cash is growing these days, especially when pandemic hit the world.

[Ojima-ojo]

Atm has been disappearing for years now (not completly  ). With the Covid crisis, people were encouraged to pay by CB on the pretext that banknotes could carry viruses. Some banks refuse cash deposits and withdrawals. Some currencies are worthless: sometimes they're used to fuel fires, or to create bags (Venezuelan bolivares, for example). What does the future hold for cash, and can btc become an alternative?

Thank you

The question shouldn't be can bircoin be an alternative?
Rather of should be.
How has Bitcoin performed as an alternative to cash during the pandemic and social distancing era?
This why another contributor will indeed have something to write on because, since bitcoin's creation, bitcoin has been an alternative currency that is performing incredibly within its limits as a decentralized currency.


So at this point, we have moved way above the point where we talk about Bitcoin's possibility to be an alternative to fiat, and since Bitcoin is anti-inflationary it's now very ok to stake it clearly to know the real status of Bitcoin against the fiat paper money like the US dollars.

[abderrazak belkhir]

It's very early to think on this because the majority of world population still didn't heard about Bitcoin and the Percentage of people that used Bitcoin at least one time still very low, but im too confident about the future of Bitcoin as a kind of payment but we must first increase crypto adoption and teach people about the adventages of using crypto and Blokchain technology

[GreatArkansas]

(....)
What does the future hold for cash, and can btc become an alternative?

Bitcoin will always be an alternative to cash even in the future. The cash that we have right now will stay just like Bitcoin will stay. And for sure in the future, there will be a lot of alternatives besides cash, not only Bitcoin.
I am not saying Bitcoin is bad but that's what I can see because in some cases, there are people who don't want to use Bitcoin and are not comfortable with it.

[ancafe]

It's very early to think on this because the majority of world population still didn't heard about Bitcoin and the Percentage of people that used Bitcoin at least one time still very low, but im too confident about the future of Bitcoin as a kind of payment but we must first increase crypto adoption and teach people about the adventages of using crypto and Blokchain technology

Many people are familiar with bitcoin and the percentage of bitcoin adoption as an investment is also increasing, bitcoin is not yet generally used as a transaction tool such as fiat because there are still many countries that do not provide a place to buy something using bitcoin and the rules still limit it. Nothing is impossible in the future and bitcoin will become a legal tender, but its nature is not used worldwide.

If the question is about the advantages of using crypto technology and blockchain I agree there are many advantages, but awareness of security, risk and knowledge is the basis that can lead people to understand this system much better. It takes a long process to achieve the expectations we want and I don't think it will be in the near future.

[Eh Moo Nah]

~~~

This will happen after 100 Years for Sure. In every country there's always a place where cash/fiat never dies - Public Market, Transportation etc etc. Venezuelan Bolivares is a living Testimony of a corrupt government, and a country without cash will just be an Imagination. Bitcoin would be nothing without cash.

[BD Crypto]

What does the future hold for cash, and can btc become an alternative?

The history of currency system have been changed several times and now we are used to use cash. So in future gradually it will change and will be invented a new currency system and it's pretty much sure. Now people are showing interest in Digital Virtual Currency. And many people now don't like to carry cash even it's more insecure. So in near future The popularity and usecases of Cash will gradually be decreased.

Bitcoin can be a perfect alternative of Cash as it's much secure, Decentralized and easy to make transections and anonymous. But some limitations are the main problem for mass adoption of Bitcoin. But Bitcoin has some limitations like it isn't suitable for kids and old people and it can't be used without internet.
So it will be a perfect alternative of Cash in many terms but cannot fulfill every requirements because of it's limitations.

 

[Becassine]

What does the future hold for cash, and can btc become an alternative?

The history of currency system have been changed several times and now we are used to use cash. So in future gradually it will change and will be invented a new currency system and it's pretty much sure. Now people are showing interest in Digital Virtual Currency. And many people now don't like to carry cash even it's more insecure. So in near future The popularity and usecases of Cash will gradually be decreased.

Bitcoin can be a perfect alternative of Cash as it's much secure, Decentralized and easy to make transections and anonymous. But some limitations are the main problem for mass adoption of Bitcoin. But Bitcoin has some limitations like it isn't suitable for kids and old people and it can't be used without internet.
So it will be a perfect alternative of Cash in many terms but cannot fulfill every requirements because of it's limitations.

I can fully understand that it's more difficult for an older person to learn bitcoin (even if it depends on their upbringing, alertness and curiosity. Some people are older at the age of 40. Some others at the age of 90 ...), but for children I really don't see any problem. Children learn quickly and it's common for them, for example, to speak several languages from an early age, especially if they come from mixed couples or were born in polyglot countries.

We shouldn't underestimate children's capacity to learn. When they don't learn at school, it's sometimes because they're bored and the lessons aren't lively. It's up to adults to make learning fun.

As for me, my two children quickly learned to use my bank card. 

[Yatsan]

We're done with the covid issue and if not, things are way better now. If this is the only reason you see to why Bitcoin would be an alternative mode of pyment, then it's a no. First of all there are fiat based digital currencies which are more supported by different countries because they can regulate it unlike with cryptocurrencies. In the future, I believe that this technology would be acknowledged by more countries as an alternative payment but it'll be a long progress before such thing happen given that there are still issues being considered to do so, at the present.

~~~

This will happen after 100 Years for Sure. In every country there's always a place where cash/fiat never dies - Public Market, Transportation etc etc. Venezuelan Bolivares is a living Testimony of a corrupt government, and a country without cash will just be an Imagination. Bitcoin would be nothing without cash.

Coexistence is more likely and more possible to happen if things would go smoothly for this industry.Some banks are now giving opportunities and consideration to this blockchain so I guess things aare still improving for this industry.

[hatshepsut93]

For Bitcoin to become a viable alternative, it needs to overcome three major obstacles.

First it must solve its technical limitations. Transaction capacity, fees, wallet management. Lightning network solves some of the problems, though even it can't provide the transaction capacity level necessary for global scale, because mainnet will still be limited, and you need it to open channels.

Then the second problem is price volatility. There's no mechanism that says more adoption brings down volatility. It's unclear how volatility will Bitcoin be in the future.

Third problem is simply convincing the people to switch to Bitcoin. Even if the first two obstacles are removed, the people might just keep ignoring Bitcoin, because they are satisfied with banks and fiat and don't feel the pressure to change their way of handling money.

[n0ne]

It is really hard to take place. Recently came across a statement where it was mentioned, more than 2 billion people still unbanked. When will these people get educated to use money, then the card transaction, then the online transaction and further move to cryptocurrency usage. Not gonna happen anytime soon. Cryptocurrency have already serving as an alternate to the traditional fiat, but this had been happening within specific percentage of people. The same to grow little by little and make the cash disappear won't happen forever.