Is Cash (Paper Money) Still King?

[Darker45]

Cash is becoming a rudiment of the modern financial system and the CBDC will inevitably be accepted for use. Very soon (within a conditional 5-10 years) cash will be withdrawn from circulation almost completely and we will step into a world of completely digital money, where every expenditure or transfer of money will be known to all regulatory bodies.

For those who want to exchange their bitcoins for cash, it will be too late.

I believe that once cash is no longer a thing, people will just use physical bullion (Gold, Silver, etc) or Monero for privacy. Especially drug dealers. The thing is, there's always a way to circumvent government surveillance. CBDCs will give them power. But NOT absolute power. With decentralized technologies already under development, it'll be hard (if not impossible) for governments to take down privacy (and freedom) for good. But that's another story.

With old people still relying on cash for day-to-day payments, it's going to take a while before CBDCs take over the world. So just sit back and relax. There's nothing to worry about.

Yeah, it will take much longer than we imagine. 5 to 10 years isn't realistic. Well, that's as far as my country is concerned. But even in other more advanced countries where CBDC trials are already conducted, I don't think hard cash will be "almost completely" withdrawn from circulation within a decade.

I agree. Criminals are always a step ahead of law enforcers. There'll always be a way to do illegal transactions. In the first place, there are so many things out there that everybody finds valuable. Yeah, it could be precious stones and metals. But it could also be fuel, ammo, guns, tires, cars, use of dock or runway, and so on and so forth. And then there's a wide array of privacy-focused cryptocurrencies.

[michellee]

The world is change so do the people. They will search which way that can makes them comfortable and when they get that way, they will use it and leaves the old ways. The old people will replace by the young people which they can also getting old but they can adapt to the current situation. With the new technology comes out, that makes people want to use that while they still consider to use the old ways.

But the use of cash can ends replace by credit/debit cards or other digital payments. Even I think that we may not see cards being use for the payment in the future because in our body will have an implant chips that contain our personal financial so we just scan our finger to pay the thing that we buy.

[Zoomic]

Digital payments seem to be in the rise lately. More people are abandoning paper money (cash) in favor of credit/debit cards, and even crypto. Paying with cash is a rarity these days. Especially where I live. I'm beginning to wonder if cash is still King. Countries worldwide are already planning to launch CBDCs of their own. So cash's days are numbered. Am I right?

Feel free to share your thoughts. Thanks.

Paper money has been dethroned  .  Even though it is still in existence, we can see that we have more of online/digital transactions ongoing. Who still carries a briefcase loaded with millions of dollars?. In my country, we operate the cashless system and it is really rare to see people move around with lots of cash. In my opinion, I think the real king now is the one that offers convenience anytime, any day for transactions and it seems digital currencies give these convenience most. As the world is evolving, alot is also changing so we all should get used to it because cash will soon be withdrawn completely from the economy soon.

[Swordsoffreedom]

If I remember correctly, in 2022 you also created a thread about the era of fiat and CBDC. While there is no denying that the trend of online and digital payments is becoming more and more popular, and many countries are implementing CBDCs. But I don't think the cash era will disappear anytime soon because our world still has a lot to solve before we completely eliminate cash.
The Internet and smartphones were not yet globally widespread, the older generation still made up a significant portion of the world's population and they were the ones who had difficulty with the concepts of the Internet, especially in rural areas of countries around the world...So we need to solve those problems first and it could take decades before we enter a world completely without paper money.

[moneystery]

....

But the use of cash can ends replace by credit/debit cards or other digital payments. Even I think that we may not see cards being use for the payment in the future because in our body will have an implant chips that contain our personal financial so we just scan our finger to pay the thing that we buy.

technological developments also make humans change their payment methods, for example in ancient times we knew the term barter, then later, coins, cash, debit cards, and into the future, namely biometric recognition, CBDC, and chip implants in the body. no payment method will last forever, so maybe in 15-20 years _{or more}, cash will also be replaced by the latest payment methods, which are more sophisticated, effective, and efficient to carry anywhere. but maybe paper money is still circulating, but not as massive as it is today.

[Antotena]

Digital payments seem to be in the rise lately. More people are abandoning paper money (cash) in favor of credit/debit cards, and even crypto. Paying with cash is a rarity these days. Especially where I live. I'm beginning to wonder if cash is still King. Countries worldwide are already planning to launch CBDCs of their own. So cash's days are numbered. Am I right?

Feel free to share your thoughts. Thanks.

Are countries still trying to launch CBDCs in this era? After what many countries has gone through. At least I can comfirm that CBDC is a failure in my country, people never used despite the central bank intervention for people to make use of it. What people prefer as digital payment are lightening micro finance apps the same way we have Zelle, cash app and the rest, we have the same apps in my country to make fast payment where transactions are settled in 5 seconds.

I'm not sure about paper money going away from my side, I can testify from my own end atleast because it's a very important to the people. Where 50% of people are under educated, such policy can't work because they can't go digital but I can comfirm in the cities that fiat money don't have too much use like they used to. However, there are some particular business people thag will never accept digital payment from you even though they are educated, they just hate the fact that they have to go withdraw money you sent to them to buy another goods.

[Yucky]

technological developments also make humans change their payment methods, for example in ancient times we knew the term barter, then later, coins, cash, debit cards, and into the future, namely biometric recognition, CBDC, and chip implants in the body. no payment method will last forever, so maybe in 15-20 years _{or more}, cash will also be replaced by the latest payment methods, which are more sophisticated, effective, and efficient to carry anywhere. but maybe paper money is still circulating, but not as massive as it is today.

Payment methods have really evolved over time in Africa. From using cowry shells back in the days of our ancestors to now using cash and even card payments, it's been a long journey.

In Nigeria, there a cash crisis in early 2023. So, many people  had to adopt transfer and card payments. Since then, people don't really move around with a lot of cash. Although, it's wise to have a bit of cash with you, just in case of network issues.

In third-world countries, cash is still king. But in other places like America where the country and people in it are more tech-savvy, they use their phones or cards or even chips to make payments. But who knows, maybe one day we'll have an even better payment method. With the way AI is rising, anything is possible.

[lizarder]

Digital payments seem to be in the rise lately. More people are abandoning paper money (cash) in favor of credit/debit cards, and even crypto. Paying with cash is a rarity these days. Especially where I live. I'm beginning to wonder if cash is still King. Countries worldwide are already planning to launch CBDCs of their own. So cash's days are numbered. Am I right?

Technology is growing and most countries try to approach to facilitate people in making transactions. Cash is still sufficiently needed but there is a shift in the use of banknotes in conducting transactions. If today we shop at the supermarket, there is a credit/debit service that makes it easy for people to shop so there is no need to bring cash when someone intends to buy something.

In the next 5 or 10 years the use of banknotes will decrease because now people are more considering carrying a credit/debit card in their pocket. CBDC began to be implemented but the journey is still not optimal and maybe for the next few years the program will continue to be maximized by the government.

[Oshio-man]

Cash will continue to remain king, because you need cash to buy what ever you want in Uba area or rural area base on network issues in some places in the country. if the world depend on digital currency only in the world, I think it will going to affect the global economy, reason is that, first, it will make those who are not educated not to make use of digital currency in their businesses because they don't know how to operate system to carry out transaction, secondly, it will affect the government income because there are huge amount of money central bank use to generate whenever they print out cash for their citizens to use because they know that it will allow their people to have cash to buy goods and services to be able to pay their taxe in the country.

[justdimin]

I don't know why cash is restricted in your country but I think this is only an issue in your country. In my country, things haven't changed much from years ago, cash is still popular and people can withdraw any amount of money they want from the bank.

It is true that stores are gradually adopting online payment, but from what I see, this form is mainly used by the younger generation. Meanwhile, our parents' or grandparents' generation has a lot of difficulty using phones, so they still prefer traditional payment methods.

Not to mention, most children under 10 years old do not have mobile phones, do not have bank accounts...and I believe this is not happening in my country but is the general situation of the world. Because no country provides bank accounts for children under 16-18 years old and parents do not provide bank cards for children to use at will. So I don't think cash will disappear in the next 5 or 10 years like some people predict and the cash era won't disappear as soon as OP thinks.

Cash isn't restricted in any nation, it's usually the withdraw that gets restricted. That happened in my nation once too, that was over 20 years ago, more than that even, but it did happen once. The main reason was that we feared we were going into a war, in the end we didn't, but we did fear that we would, and for that reason everyone started to withdraw their money because they feared that banks wouldn't be able to pay if that happened, and withdrawing now before the war would have been great.

In the end, we didn't get into any war, there wasn't even a threat of it, it was just rumour and since we didn't had social media, and since people do not trust politicians when they say nothing like that will happen, they just ended up withdrawing for no good reason at all, eventually that tapped banks out, and banks requested government to limit it, and for a long time, like 8-9 months, it was limited. Then of course people stopped, because we realized we are not going into any war, and then the limit was off again, and people weren't withdrawing of course.

[Smartprofit]

Of all the options, cash is the most anonymous and private. Cash is essentially real money, as the bills are interchangeable. This eliminates discrimination against individual users.

At the same time, people are gradually being weaned off cash. Thanks to the cashback system, using plastic cards is more profitable than paying in cash. Banks very often block their customers' accounts (citing the provisions of the law on illegal circulation of funds).

If we talk about CBDC, this is actually the basis of a digital concentration camp. People are gradually being alienated from their money. And this is very bad. I read that in the next decade, all countries are planning to ban cash.

This will be done under the ridiculous pretext that cash is used by criminals and terrorists. In fact, governments want to have maximum control over their citizens.

[dezoel]

I do not think so, I think cash isn't really that much cared about anymore, why would you even need it, almost everything in life is done with digital currency and there is no need to have paper money anymore. I understand the logic to want it, but that doesn't mean that we are going to need it, those are two different things. In fact, what we are trying to achieve with crypto world is to make sure we can have a world where we spend bitcoin as well, which would be fully digital, and earn bitcoin too.

Like how El Salvador did it, turn bitcoin into a legal tender and using apps with each other we can earn and spend bitcoin without a trouble, go fully digital. That's going to be very hard, but one day it will be quite common for sure.

[doomloop]

Cash days can never be numbered, the fact that countries worldwide are planning to launch CBDCs of their own can never make cash to extinction.money or currency in cash form are something of history or heritage since the stone age's.

Back in time, there are no cash yet but I heard people use the barter system. It is like trading goods. They are part of the history of finance and so as cash when in case everything will be digitalized. As for now, I think it is hard and I think CBDC's must be backed by a real-world cash or money.

being it  in usage for a very long time passing through decades and still having potentials to keep existing in the future centuries.

I think it is also because people are used to this, plus they are offline, so they have other advantages as well that we can't find in the other.

Digital technology has pose a very great influence in the modern day life and has make life more easier to us, especially in monetary terms technology has really make trade and other economic activity easier, making people to abandon paper money in favor of credit/debit card or cryptocurrencies but that cannot make money go on extinction because of the great heritage attached to it even if digital currencies take over the world, cash.

If many people have switched, then it can really make the money extinct but as of now, I can feel that most monies in the world are still strong, so that means people are still holding up on them. Digital tech has an advantage but they also have a disadvantage like the other things. Unfortunately it is why some people's life got destroyed.

[CK485]

I do not think so, I think cash isn't really that much cared about anymore, why would you even need it, almost everything in life is done with digital currency and there is no need to have paper money anymore. I understand the logic to want it, but that doesn't mean that we are going to need it, those are two different things. In fact, what we are trying to achieve with crypto world is to make sure we can have a world where we spend bitcoin as well, which would be fully digital, and earn bitcoin too.

Like how El Salvador did it, turn bitcoin into a legal tender and using apps with each other we can earn and spend bitcoin without a trouble, go fully digital. That's going to be very hard, but one day it will be quite common for sure.

Yes, the time has definitely, it is a choice from the development of innovation that is happening now, digital currency will become a trend and the process will gradually replace cash, and it has begun to be felt, especially since being able to spending bitcoins easily is an interesting thing and makes transactions easier between sellers and buyers by following digital progress.

[HelliumZ]

Digital payments seem to be in the rise lately. More people are abandoning paper money (cash) in favor of credit/debit cards, and even crypto. Paying with cash is a rarity these days. Especially where I live. I'm beginning to wonder if cash is still King. Countries worldwide are already planning to launch CBDCs of their own. So cash's days are numbered. Am I right?

Feel free to share your thoughts. Thanks.

When the cryptocurrency market is down, it seems that paper money is much better than Bitcoin. And when the Bitcoin market goes up, it seems that Bitcoin is much better than gold and paper money. Actually which time is better depends on the complete market conditions. But those who have invested in Bitcoin will definitely feel nervous about investing in Bitcoin if they are impatient. They would think maybe paper money was better than bitcoin.

[STT]

Cash is only king from the excessive volatility and the usability of buying a price on the day that might be much lower then previous.   Dollar index is up and dollar is a wanted currency so to that extent cash remains king but the value keeps losing value which means you must deploy the capital or lose its value, that not a strong position imo but a constant liability to take of or lose control.

   Crypto isnt yet superior to any cash but the use across economies as international money places it as most useful online, as the fallback strong asset its not there yet, its speculative and value varies even more then Dollar manages.   If you have enough excess to ride out the many varied peaks then BTC works out best but its not the same utility as Dollar manages to be the most liquid asset of last resort.

[uneng]

As I see, it's already 50% x 50% nowadays. With digital banks and their debit cards without any costs for customers (besides virtual transactions), many people have already adopted digital means of payments instead of the traditional paper money, especially the youngest ones. Paper money is still popular among the older generations, who can't adapt themselves to the digital tools.

I truly believe that in maximum a decade from now on we are going to see paper money losing a lot of territory in economics. I don't think it will completely disappear, but its usage will decrease considerably. Everything nowadays is done through smartphones. Even the pocket physical wallet as we have known is likely to lose its function and popularity in the following years.

[Abiky]

Paper money has been dethroned  .  Even though it is still in existence, we can see that we have more of online/digital transactions ongoing. Who still carries a briefcase loaded with millions of dollars?. In my country, we operate the cashless system and it is really rare to see people move around with lots of cash. In my opinion, I think the real king now is the one that offers convenience anytime, any day for transactions and it seems digital currencies give these convenience most. As the world is evolving, alot is also changing so we all should get used to it because cash will soon be withdrawn completely from the economy soon.

If you see someone carrying a briefcase with a million dollars that means the person is a criminal (drug dealer, paid assasin, etc). I mean, no legitimate person would do something like that. It would bring unwanted attention. In a time where digital payments have been taking over the world, paying with cash would make us look weird. Especially to young people. One day you will arrive at a store and try to pay with coins and paper money, only to be denied from doing so.

Change is happening, and there's nothing we can do to stop it. Fortunately, we'll have physical bullion and Monero to save the day. Privacy is a human right. And I hope it stays that way forever.

[lixer]

Digital payments seem to be in the rise lately. More people are abandoning paper money (cash) in favor of credit/debit cards, and even crypto. Paying with cash is a rarity these days. Especially where I live. I'm beginning to wonder if cash is still King. Countries worldwide are already planning to launch CBDCs of their own. So cash's days are numbered. Am I right?

Technology is growing and most countries try to approach to facilitate people in making transactions. Cash is still sufficiently needed but there is a shift in the use of banknotes in conducting transactions. If today we shop at the supermarket, there is a credit/debit service that makes it easy for people to shop so there is no need to bring cash when someone intends to buy something.

In the next 5 or 10 years the use of banknotes will decrease because now people are more considering carrying a credit/debit card in their pocket. CBDC began to be implemented but the journey is still not optimal and maybe for the next few years the program will continue to be maximized by the government.

This is true, while I can see that there are still some places where you need to spend cash, it is not really that common and we can't really consider it to be something that takes time, we are talking about something that is a bit unique, and for that reason I believe that we are going to end up with a different situation ,so it is not going to be something that takes time for those places, because those places do not have our technology, but aside from that, everywhere else where we have this technology ,cash is losing value.

I do not carry any cash at all for example, and I mean like I do not even have a dollar, not in cash, I have my card and that's enough for me anywhere I go, I do not remember the last time I needed cash, it's been MONTHS since I had even a dollar in cash.

[lizarder]

This is true, while I can see that there are still some places where you need to spend cash, it is not really that common and we can't really consider it to be something that takes time, we are talking about something that is a bit unique, and for that reason I believe that we are going to end up with a different situation ,so it is not going to be something that takes time for those places, because those places do not have our technology, but aside from that, everywhere else where we have this technology ,cash is losing value.

I do not carry any cash at all for example, and I mean like I do not even have a dollar, not in cash, I have my card and that's enough for me anywhere I go, I do not remember the last time I needed cash, it's been MONTHS since I had even a dollar in cash.

That is in line with the previous discussion because cash is still needed for some places that are not touched by technology, even now when I go to a traditional market to buy food, cash is still the means of transaction used. But if it shifts a little to the city where shopping at the supermarket only requires showing a credit/debit card for payment issues and it happens so easily and quickly. Technology has played a significant role now and there may be many people who no longer put paper money in their pockets when traveling.

This convenience is actually available in the city because for the countryside still need cash and when I want to go home to my village I have to exchange money as a means of transaction. In one or two certain places cash is still needed and the power of seeing for the next few years this will continue to develop, where technology will play a role as a step forward.