We’ve seen the rise of money transfer apps over debit cards, checks and cash. But while the U.S. takes only steps toward electronic payments, the country of Denmark is a mostly cashless society. Are the states headed in the same direction? Bold TV discusses virtual payments with Lenny Byers, the founder of the world’s first consumer experience platform for digital money: Vouchr. He says that cashless payments will always be popular, but they won’t kill cash.
You probably can’t eradicate cash
Byers is in the business of cashless payments but doesn’t think they’ll take over completely. Why? “We’ve talked about a cashless society for a long time, but think about it,” he said. “The Romans, how many thousands of years ago, created coins, and we still have dollar bills and coins today. So I don’t think money as we know it is going to disappear anytime soon.” While digital payments may take away some of the popularity of credit/debit cards, checks and cash, it won’t necessarily eradicate them.
Problems with a cashless society
Changes in currency always have effects on society. Just think about what happened when we started printing paper money. So if society went cashless, it would feel some ripple effects. Privacy and security would be major concerns because hacking and data breaches always complicate anything digital. Also, there are sects of society that don’t have access to smartphones and/or data. Finally, a cashless society would have a major impact on under the table payments. Whether because of illegal work or tax evasion, some people live on cash payments only. Digital payments automatically leave a “paper” trail, a record of all transactions. It would definitely make illegal payments more difficult. What do you think: Is that a good thing?
