Why the fuck do we still use cash?

[Argwai96]

From a merchant standpoint, cash = no fees. From a consumer standpoint, some level of anonymity with purchases. And some business still take only cash, as ancient as it sounds. My favorite Thai restaurant is cash only.

[djarot]

Germans have a saying - "nur bares ist wahres", which means only cash is the real thing! and i think is true, this feeling - for a merchant or consumer, a pile of cash makes you feel secure in a way no other format does..

[Yakamoto]

Germans have a saying - "nur bares ist wahres", which means only cash is the real thing! and i think is true, this feeling - for a merchant or consumer, a pile of cash makes you feel secure in a way no other format does..

Well, I actually have to disagree. A pile of physical goods makes me feel secure, instead of a pile of paper. I'd rather have 1 gram of gold than 10 pounds worth of paper.

If the world was predictable, however, a pile of cash would be a good thing for normal folk. Sadly, it's not, and as such, physical things that keep their value make me feel better than a bunch of hyper-volatile paper or plastic, depending on where you're form.

Now, if the paper has value, I'd feel secure, and a pile would be comforting. But I'd switch it to some other capital investment as soon as possible.

Just my opinion. I may just be a dumb westerner.

[ShakyhandsBTCer]

From a merchant standpoint, cash = no fees. From a consumer standpoint, some level of anonymity with purchases. And some business still take only cash, as ancient as it sounds. My favorite Thai restaurant is cash only.

There are costs associated with cash. For example employees can make mistakes giving change or steal from the register both of these can add up

[keithers]

If you live or travel to a place where most people use taxis, they pretty much hate everything except for cash.   This is because often times they have to pay a lot of fees, and also sometimes have to wait to get their money when people pay with credit cards.

BTC would be cool for taxi drivers and tipping...All the money would actually go to the drivers

[nwfella]

why use cash?  i try not too but it's just so dang convenient.  perhaps in another 15-20 years (hopefully sooner) there will be so many crypto-currencies for so many different things and accepted by everybody.

[bananaeater]

People in Murica barely use cash. But there is a bunch of countries who are just getting there or are not even close.
Personally i prefer to see some actual money inside my wallet, when i open it.

[salmondance]

Despite all my interest in cryptocurrencies cash still remains my favorite. Helps me to control how much i spend.

[Watermelondea]

Despite all my interest in cryptocurrencies cash still remains my favorite. Helps me to control how much i spend.

Without cash i will go bankrupt because i will spend all my money 

[ARGpentem]

i try to take advantage of my credit card rewards, etc, but it's just faster/easier to use cash much of the time. and the local business owners appreciate it due to fees.

[arbitrage001]

From a merchant standpoint, cash = no fees. From a consumer standpoint, some level of anonymity with purchases. And some business still take only cash, as ancient as it sounds. My favorite Thai restaurant is cash only.

Yes. Cash is still the cheapest form of transaction for local exchange of good and service.


Bitcoin is only good if you are doing small scale foreign purchase. The saving comes from for conversion and transfer fee.

[CEG5952]

From a merchant standpoint, cash = no fees. From a consumer standpoint, some level of anonymity with purchases. And some business still take only cash, as ancient as it sounds. My favorite Thai restaurant is cash only.

Yes. Cash is still the cheapest form of transaction for local exchange of good and service.


Bitcoin is only good if you are doing small scale foreign purchase. The saving comes from for conversion and transfer fee.

Large scale foreign purchases work as well -- very cheap (with bitcoin). But obviously, any company of scale could not operate in such manner, given that most overhead costs would need to be paid in fiat.

[arbitrage001]

From a merchant standpoint, cash = no fees. From a consumer standpoint, some level of anonymity with purchases. And some business still take only cash, as ancient as it sounds. My favorite Thai restaurant is cash only.

Yes. Cash is still the cheapest form of transaction for local exchange of good and service.


Bitcoin is only good if you are doing small scale foreign purchase. The saving comes from for conversion and transfer fee.

Large scale foreign purchases work as well -- very cheap (with bitcoin). But obviously, any company of scale could not operate in such manner, given that most overhead costs would need to be paid in fiat.

Depend on how "large" is the transaction. Based on market depth, and assuming the receiving merchant do not want to hold bitcoin, I think a few million bitcoin in USD will move the market 5-10%.

[illyiller]

From a merchant standpoint, cash = no fees. From a consumer standpoint, some level of anonymity with purchases. And some business still take only cash, as ancient as it sounds. My favorite Thai restaurant is cash only.

Yes. Cash is still the cheapest form of transaction for local exchange of good and service.


Bitcoin is only good if you are doing small scale foreign purchase. The saving comes from for conversion and transfer fee.

Large scale foreign purchases work as well -- very cheap (with bitcoin). But obviously, any company of scale could not operate in such manner, given that most overhead costs would need to be paid in fiat.

Depend on how "large" is the transaction. Based on market depth, and assuming the receiving merchant do not want to hold bitcoin, I think a few million bitcoin in USD will move the market 5-10%.

I think that is the distinction at hand.

[Harley997]

From a merchant standpoint, cash = no fees. From a consumer standpoint, some level of anonymity with purchases. And some business still take only cash, as ancient as it sounds. My favorite Thai restaurant is cash only.

Yes. Cash is still the cheapest form of transaction for local exchange of good and service.


Bitcoin is only good if you are doing small scale foreign purchase. The saving comes from for conversion and transfer fee.

Large scale foreign purchases work as well -- very cheap (with bitcoin). But obviously, any company of scale could not operate in such manner, given that most overhead costs would need to be paid in fiat.

Hopefully, over time this will change. As of today you are correct, but some companies are able to pay their bills in bitcoin. Take Blockchain.info for example, they pay everything in bitcoin

[hloren70]

Easy, convenience. No matter how fast a Bitcoin transaction will get, it will never be as fast as handing someone physical paper or coins. Nor will it be as anonymous.

[CEG5952]

I don't see paper money going anywhere. There's no money trail. Merchants save on fees. Grey/money markets thrive. Buyers stay anonymous. And from a historical perspective, I just don't see it going away.

[hloren70]

I don't see paper money going anywhere. There's no money trail. Merchants save on fees. Grey/money markets thrive. Buyers stay anonymous. And from a historical perspective, I just don't see it going away.

I'd like to agree but I am becoming increasingly concerned that western governments will eventually try to phase out cash in order to track every single transaction and tax it. Even if they outright ban it, there are lots of tricks they can do to make you go cashless (think EBT cards). Whose to stop them from issuing ALL government financing in an electronic-only fashion so that anyone getting disability, welfare, unemployment, etc. could only spend their money electronically? Considering half of America is on government dependence of some sort, it wouldn't be that hard for them to pull off.

[DF_]

We need a cash form of Cryptocurrency.

[Crypto_123]

We need a cash form of Cryptocurrency.

That 's hard to implement from a technical point of view i think.

For me every so far known kind of money (cash, traditional digital, crypto) has it's very own properties, advantages and disadvantages. This is why I think that all shapes of money will survive just because for all of them there are situations they are useful.