A cashless society draws closer to us than ever. As smartphones become more accessible even in developing countries, mobile payment has gone viral around the globe. People no longer need to carry their wallets and have time to wait for an international wire transfer that would potentially take days to execute. Banks are slowly shutting down their branches and ATM machines in favor of going entirely digital. Is “cash is the king” still true to you? At this point, in some countries, the digital payment might have beaten the cash king.

Britain: An Impending Transition Of Cashless Society

In Britain, contactless and peer-to-peer payments exploded in popularity during the pandemics, leading to a more than 10% increase in digital payments,  according to Access to Cash Review. People believe that avoid touching banknotes and coins or contactless payment can mitigate Covid-19 transmission worries. On top of that, according to UK Finance, they have recorded an approximately 30% drop in using cash after multiple months of lockdowns and restrictions, mostly driven by e-commerce sales. The UK government is well aware that a cashless economy is a way to go. To catch this trend, a decision was made by the British Retail Consortiumin in April 2020 to increase the upper limit to £45  for in-store payment gateways. An impending transition of a cashless society is ongoing in the UK.

Sweden: The World’s First Cashless Nation

While Britain is speeding up to digitize money, Sweden has decided to become the world’s first cashless nation by March 2023. According to the Riksbank, Sweden was the first country in Europe to introduce banknotes back in 1661. And now in 2021, Sweden’s Central Bank has launched its own digital currency: The e-Krona, to seize the potential of money digitization. According to the Swedish Central Bank, more than 99 per cent of retailers accept cards and over 80 per cent of all transactions have been paid electronically. Only less than roughly 10 per cent of Swedish citizens still rely on cash. Instantaneous mobile payment platforms accelerate person-to-person payments with QR codes in daily purchases and now more Swedes can enjoy a cashless lifestyle. Platforms such as Swish and iZettle are particularly popular in farmer markets,  second-hand markets, and Christmas markets since it requires minimal effort from the seller to install them. All they need to do is to put up a QR code in front of their shops. Fast and Easy.

China: E-Wallet Replaces Card And Cash

Despite the technologically advanced nations, China is also rapidly moving towards a cashless society. With the growing concerns of counterfeit money, China experienced a merchant payment revolution. This new payment system replaces any cards or cash and challenges the unshaken position of national banks. Unlike the west, which relies on card-based systems, the big tech companies Alibaba and Tencent have their own payment systems to process in-store and e-commerce payments, which are decentralised from the state-run Banks. Just under a decade, it has accumulated over a billion users on each platform. Nowadays, a Wechat or Alipay e-wallet is essential in Chinese daily life. It pays for absolutely everything, from fresh vegetables to expensive jewelry, with simple QR codes. It has been successfully adopted by mainstream society.

Cash is slowly disappearing and at one point, our next generation can only see a banknote or coin in a museum collection. Different incentives and policies have promptly shifted countries into cashless societies. Are you ready to be part of it?