Cash Payments vs Digital Payments, which one is more dominant in your area?

[Marvell1]

Here is the chart I found about the global trends in cash usage. It gives us a better overview of the dominance of digital and cash payments in each country.

In my observation, for developed countries, digital payments will dominate while cash is still preferred and dominant in developing countries.


While digital payments are growing, I think there is still a long way to go before they can completely dominate cash. Especially in developing countries such as Myanmar, Nigeria, Bangladesh...the rate of cash usage is still very high.



https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-countries-that-use-the-most-cash-in-2025/

[LogitechMouse]

Re: Cash Payments vs Digital Payments, which one is more dominant in your area?

Both are still dominant, but nowadays, digital payments are becoming more and more popular right now compared to Cash Payments.

Still, it will depend on the scenario. I mean there are some instances where they are using digital payments like when they're doing online shopping, or paying something online, or anything that the payment is online. On the other hand, there are some instances where they are using cash as a mode of payment like buying groceries, paying the fare, buying some foods, and more. I saw a photo that most of the Asian countries still look at cash as some kind of essential, and that's true.

At the end of the day, not all people can make a transaction thru digital. There will still be people that are comfortable to make a transaction using their own cash, and there will always be people that will be comfortable by paying online. Like what I said, it will depend on the scenario.

[Swordsoffreedom]

Digital payments are inevitable, and we will be more closely monitored and controlled. But I guess stablecoins could also become mainstream, and not just CBDCs.

Many countries like China and Europe are developing their own CBDCs, but there are also countries that are not very interested in the idea. Instead, they focus on controlling stablecoins like the US.

I don't understand, why will there be a market and need for stablecoins if we have CBDCs?

AFAIK, the reason the US passed a bill to ban the Fed from issuing CBDCs and only use private stablecoins is because they are concerned about excessive abuse of citizens' privacy.
The bill is officially called the Anti-CBDC State Surveillance Act.

Overall, both are centralized but stablecoins still give us a bit more privacy than CBDCs.
With CBDC, every transaction would be tracked by the central bank, even small ones. Meanwhile, stablecoins are issued by private organizations, although they can freeze assets or track us. But they won’t monitor us around the clock and track every single transaction like CBDC.

It can be said that stablecoins are still a bit more private than CBDCs, so I think the demand for them will still be higher.

[Juicyhome]

COVID-19 made digital payment dominate in my area, before COVID we're using cash payment in every shops, but during the shutdown and there was no bank to get cash, every shops around area started accepting digital payment for their products and services, that make it easy for both the residents and the seller. Having cash at hand to the market is dangerous in my area because of criminals in the area, you can be rob off your money.

As of today no it's hard to see people buying in cash in my area, life is becoming easier for everyone, cashless policy is what we apply now, and it's safer that way.  COVID really changed a lot of things in the society.

[Oluwa-btc]

The digital payments became rampant and more preferred during the height of the pandemic. Contactless payments systems are what people prefer to avoid contain the virus from the other people. But when the pandemic has loosened and everything came back to normal, the countries and its governments that have preferred the cash/fiat system have come back and became lively again. In my place, it's the same that businessmen and establishments here are very flexible, but not all have adopted to go cashless.

Personally,cash and digital payments coexists,no one outweighs the other but many economies are still convenient using cash for payments.For generations,people have used cash so changing behavior takes times.
Some central banks or governments promote cashless policies or digital payment frameworks.Globally, digital payment methods are becoming more dominant, especially for non-cash transactions,but cash still holds on in many contexts.Cash and digital are coexisting,though digital is gaining steadily.

[fuguebtc]

This is what I and my loved ones are doing. We still tend to use cash for most of our everyday payments. We only really use digital payments when purchasing big ticket items because it's convenient and avoids unwanted risks like theft as you mentioned.

Honestly, I still prefer using cash on a daily basis because I feel it gives me better control over my spending. Not sure if anyone is like me, but using digital payments is really convenient but makes it difficult for me to control my spending.

But in digital transactions, you also need to be vigilant, don't buy goods at a high price without thoroughly researching the transaction, because currently there are many frauds carried out in various ways. I myself have never experienced being scammed in a digital transaction, only sometimes there are problems, for example, I have transferred money but the recipient has not received the money. And when I looked for a solution, it turned out that it wasn't a signal problem but rather a problem with the bank. Honestly, when that happened, I felt panicked because the amount was quite large.

Of course, scams still exist no matter what payment method we use, so it's important to be careful. But there's no denying that digital payments are safer than cash.

Furthermore, small incidents are inevitable, but I think if we stay calm, there is nothing to be afraid of. Because if we just spend a little time contacting the bank, they will easily solve the problem for us. That is one of the benefits of using centralized methods and services.

[bitgolden]

My government has been encouraging the use of digital payments like mobile banking systems or online bank payments. According to the administration, printing paper money is quite costly nowadays; hence, the government is introducing their own payment system along with the existing digital payment system. But the problem is only smartphone users are familiar with digital payments, and a large number of old people aren't familiar with making payments through QR codes or digitally.

In my country paper money still dominates. Even a lot of shops don't accept digital payments. There are some difficulties in my country in getting digital payment gateway. So we have to overcome first the difficulties, and the government must need to be soft regarding issuing digital payment gateways. Abroad I have seen you can even make digital payments at the tea store. But in my country, even you can't make digital payments at some big shops except for well-known brands.

Mine too, but their reason is that if you pay with cash, you can avoid paying taxes and hide your income or expense, whereas if you pay digitally, like with an app or just credit card, whatever that can be tracked, then you have to pay tax, and the seller has to pay tax. So their ultimate motive is not for our benefit, while it makes life easier, it's still not a great one and causes a lot of trouble for a lot of people.

I think that is what makes this important and as long as that exists, we should not be worried about it. We can definitely look for this as much as we can, and for that reason we are going to end up with something that will benefit a lot better for the time being, should be something great with us.

[HONDACD125]

What do you think? And have digital payments also started to dominate in your area?

Not on a large scale yet, but yeah, people, mostly in malls and stores, prefer paying either digitally or using cards instead of carrying cash and using that for payments. Even restaurants, coffee shops, and other small vendors within the city are providing the opportunity for people to make digital payments, making it easier and more convenient for their customers, and customers also find this more convenient, if you ask me. I also like it more if I have the opportunity to pay using digital channels instead of carrying cash around at all times.

There are both pros and cons to this. The biggest con of this is of course giving more easy access to your financial activities to the authorities or banking channels you are using when making those transactions, because of course, it's all KYCed and you have allowed them to keep track of whatever you do digitally. One of the biggest pros to this is that you don't have the fear of losing money, with cash in your pocket or wallet, there is a chance of you losing that money sometimes, but we know we make sure we have our mobile phones available at all times, so there is no fear of losing cash anymore.

[o48o]

Our country is divided on this, and even government recognizes the benefits of physical cash money, as sometimes you need it if bank services are down.

And it's even suggested that people would keep some cash in their houses in case of some national emergencies. It helps the supply chain to be intact. And people can get food even if their cards won't work.

Personally i only use digital money, and it's getting harder and harder to even use cash money in my country. Shops don't keep lot of change money, and some shops have set 200 euro limits for cash shopping anyway.

[junder]

Of course, scams still exist no matter what payment method we use, so it's important to be careful. But there's no denying that digital payments are safer than cash.

Furthermore, small incidents are inevitable, but I think if we stay calm, there is nothing to be afraid of. Because if we just spend a little time contacting the bank, they will easily solve the problem for us. That is one of the benefits of using centralized methods and services.

I myself was once scammed, but it was actually my own fault because I was transacting in a buying and selling group on social media, not through a third party like an app. If you conduct a digital transaction through a third party like an app and experience fraud, for example, with an item you purchased, you'll have the option to file a complaint and even return the item if it doesn't match, either for an exchange or a refund.
Digital transactions do make things easier, but there are some drawbacks. Compare this to modern shopping outlets (supermarkets), where they have both payment methods, and traditional shopping centers (markets), where they tend to prioritize cash payments.

[mrust_mobile]

In my country inflation is very high and the biggest paper bill buys only a bottle of beer or something which is crazy. That’s why most people stopped carrying physical fiat in their pockets because it doesn’t make any sense to do so. The gov/central bank whoever it is in charge of this insist on not printing bigger bills because it would make them look bad and also they collect more taxes when people use credit cards instead of cash so it is a win win situation for them. It is like cash usage has been unofficially banned by the government. You can use it if you want to, but it is not practical at all. If the inflation goes higher in the other countries and prices rise fast, the other countries will experience the same problem.

[DaNNy001]

Some people still value cash payment based on the type of business they run, they need the physical cash to run the daily expenditures of the business but If you arr talking about which one of them is more predominant in my locality then it's definitely digital payments..we are in that where people don't carry cash to evry point that they go to, digital payments makes thngs more easier and faster.

[iamsange]

Some people still value cash payment based on the type of business they run, they need the physical cash to run the daily expenditures of the business but If you arr talking about which one of them is more predominant in my locality then it's definitely digital payments..we are in that where people don't carry cash to evry point that they go to, digital payments makes thngs more easier and faster.

Yes, due to rapid technological advancements, there's a growing trend for everyone in their transactions. According to my experience, quite a number of people are already conducting digital transactions, especially with the growth of e-commerce, which has made shopping easier for some. However, cash transactions cannot be ruled out, as some goods, especially in the smaller or more traditional business sectors, require cash fines. However, the shift towards financial digitalization is certainly in demand, and this shift will only grow larger in the future.

[Stavri]

i can say 95% digital payments here. credit cards are dominating. In my opinion government also wants us to do so. To follow the taxes ofc. I only use cash to buy good from village people in local bazaars. except it i use only my credit cards.

[Fakhrulenclix]

Some people still value cash payment based on the type of business they run, they need the physical cash to run the daily expenditures of the business but If you arr talking about which one of them is more predominant in my locality then it's definitely digital payments..we are in that where people don't carry cash to evry point that they go to, digital payments makes thngs more easier and faster.

Yes, due to rapid technological advancements, there's a growing trend for everyone in their transactions. According to my experience, quite a number of people are already conducting digital transactions, especially with the growth of e-commerce, which has made shopping easier for some. However, cash transactions cannot be ruled out, as some goods, especially in the smaller or more traditional business sectors, require cash fines. However, the shift towards financial digitalization is certainly in demand, and this shift will only grow larger in the future.

Depending on the location, we can't deny that digital payments are quite dominant these days, and businesses seem to be forced to offer them due to consumer demand. However, some places, such as traditional markets, still accept cash payments, although some wealthy individuals are slowly opting to abandon these transactions and preferring to shop at supermarkets.
So, digital payments are indeed a popular choice for convenience.

[Hanadawa]

At the end of the day, not all people can make a transaction thru digital. There will still be people that are comfortable to make a transaction using their own cash, and there will always be people that will be comfortable by paying online. Like what I said, it will depend on the scenario.

As far as I can remember, countries like Germany still use cash for privacy reasons and to avoid waste. Digital payments are seamless and make every transaction much easier. Every transaction is recorded, and we can shop down to the smallest amount. In my country, a transaction value like IDR 1,750 would be rounded up to IDR 2,000 if paid in cash. However, on the other hand, especially in rural areas, many people still use cash for daily transactions and digital payments like bank transfers for larger transactions. Currently, neither one is truly dominant in my area, as everyone has their own preferences.

[jaberwock]

Here is the chart I found about the global trends in cash usage. It gives us a better overview of the dominance of digital and cash payments in each country.

In my observation, for developed countries, digital payments will dominate while cash is still preferred and dominant in developing countries.


While digital payments are growing, I think there is still a long way to go before they can completely dominate cash. Especially in developing countries such as Myanmar, Nigeria, Bangladesh...the rate of cash usage is still very high.

I honestly did not think the numbers would be this high. It's clear that most of the developed nations do not use cash that much, not as much as others, but places like Italy for example shocked me, that's a new thing and I did not expected it.

To be fair we are doing better at this moment compared to Italy so I am happy, but still, I would expect that the cash usage would be 10-20% range or less for majority of nations, not the bottom level, I would expect 1-2% for the top nation to be. Where do people even use cash? Like what is it that we use paper anymore? I think I may not even have any cash on me right now lol, because I honestly can spend a whole month without ever needing a cash, which happened many times in my life, so why would we need it?

[dezoel]

Rural places using cash is true, that still exists today and there are even some elderly that refuses to use credit cards or any kind of cards. I do not understand fully why, but some people are like that. My father used to be like that too, he had to switch to card because of the economy being bad, so he has debt now and can live the same life while doing a bit of economy, but for the longest time, he even paid his bills using normal cash payments at the stores, he would go to electric company building to pay for it, think of how much time wasted when you can do that in one minute at home on your phone.

It took me years to teach him how to do it and accept that it's better, but he finally learned. Not all of the elders learn that.

[Findingnemo]

I am using credit cards for 90% of my usage and the remaining one goes with cash. I believe that is how most of the users do that in the place where I live and it's not new though because countries started moving towards a cashless economy for almost over a decade now and they did that for multiple reasons, like to increase the spending of their people, convenience, better tracking and digitizing everything due to the evolution of the internet.

Bitcoin is just an upgrade to digital payments, thereby eliminating the middlemen in the process.

[Unknown Op]

I see that cash vs digital payments depends are very regional. Some prefer cash and its more popular in their area, some use digital for its convenience. In my country we are partly forces to use digital payments, because nobody, who works in "white", can not receive cash as salary. Only transaction to an account opened in local bank. That makes cash to be unpopular and have no advantages over digital payment.

You have highlighted very important point, now system is forcing us to move towards digital mode. But it is truly now the need of this century because by adopting this method all transactions come into the record that is easy for the government to collect the taxes on payments. Otherwise hand to hand transaction sometimes lead towards  tax evasions. More over by adopting digital method economy runs faster. People  by this method pay bills or payment faster which help to regulate the economy faster.in my country our system also work on digital management because of it give convenience but now it's not a choice it' has become a demand of modern  world. One more important benefits that gain through digital system is it prevent the system from corruption, because every transaction works on records. It reduce the misuse of the funds that give strength to the economy.

In my country, we are paying through cash or online but that matters we are living in  a village or city because the people who are living in cities they always try to pay through QR code because they don't want to carry money because they have fear of losing money by different ways . They know that robbers can steal their money as they can't hold more money when it is needed to pay to any person at a time . Digital payment is safe but many uneducated people have money to pay in cities. In my area, we are watching all kinds of payment but cash payment is dominant because most of the people don't know how to give person money online And they don't know how to operate mobile phone because they have no education and no guidance by any person.