Is China becoming cashless?
As of June 2023, about 943 million people in mainland China used mobile payments, bolstering the country's status as the world's largest cashless society.
The convenience of digital receipts and transaction history also simplifies the process of returns or refunds for merchants and consumers. China is obviously the case-study for going cashless, where nearly 90% of all retail transactions have gone digital.
Major tourist attractions across the country will upgrade payment facilities to accept the range of transaction methods, from mobile payments, to bank cards, and cash. Hotels, restaurants, retailers, public transport and taxis must also accept cards and cash, and foreign currency exchange services will be improved.
Physical currency isn't becoming obsolete any time soon, so it's important to weigh up your options before deciding to go fully cashless in 2024. Ensuring you can accept some cashless payments though, is essential to keeping with today's trends and customer expectations.
With a date set in 2023 to go completely cashless, Sweden is arguably the closest country to achieve this. It is currently not uncommon to see signs that say “No Cash Accepted” in various shops in Sweden.
All told, 73% of higher-income consumers used cash sparingly, yet only 49% of lower-income Americans followed the same trend. About 34% of American households have annual incomes over $100K, so about half of the 66% majority use cash more often than not.
The big four banks have reassured customers they will maintain in-branch cash services, following Macquarie Bank's unprecedented move to phase out cash and cheque services entirely. Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, NAB and Westpac all confirmed on Friday that there are no current plans to go cashless.
China is one of the United States's largest creditors, owning about $859.4 billion in U.S. debt. 1 However, it does not own the most U.S. debt of any foreign country. Nations borrowing from each other may be as old as the concept of money.
Chinese Economics
Chinese exporters receive U.S. dollars (USD) for their goods sold to the U.S., but they need renminbi (RMB or yuan) to pay their workers and store money locally. They sell the dollars they receive through exports to get RMB, which increases the USD supply and raises the demand for RMB.
While Alipay, WeChat Pay and UnionPay are by far the most commonly used ways to pay in China, there are a few other payment providers that do work in China. Paypal, for instance, is not blocked in China, and therefore vendors accepting PayPal payments have access to the Chinese market.
Why shouldn t the US go cashless?
A cashless society would rely on a complex network of digital systems, which would be vulnerable to cyberattacks. If these systems were hacked, it could have a devastating impact on the economy. Privacy is the third challenge raised. Cash can be exchanged anonymously, leaving no digital trail.
According to the Payments Observatory 2023 report, in 2021 cash accounted for 17.9% of transaction value at traditional merchants, however, by 2025 the figure is expected to drop to just 9.8%. Thus, following this trend, cash could become obsolete in a projection of approximately 10 years.
For instance, using cash instead of credit or debit cards may help keep some people from overspending, because you can see how little is left in your wallet after every purchase. In short, getting rid of cash would impose hardships on society's most vulnerable people and could jeopardize our privacy.
More than half of all bank branches no longer handle cash. Seven out of ten consumers say they can manage without cash, while half of all merchants expect to stop accepting cash by 2025 (Arvidsson, Hedman, and Segendorf 2018).
Other anti-cashless countries in our analysis include Belgium (where 47.23% of tweets are negative), Italy (46.62%) and the Ivory Coast (43.07%). Despite more than 23 million people in the country barely using cash in 2021, the UK (29.30%) is also fairly anti-cashless, according to our analysis.
Cashless society: disadvantages
Elderly people may be less comfortable with tech and less able to make the switch from physical currency. Rural communities could also be left vulnerable, because of poor broadband and mobile connectivity. People with low income or debt tend to find cash easier to manage too.
The US is moving toward cashless payments, with a substantial increase in the use of mobile wallet apps and contactless cards. A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco found that payments made using cash accounted for just 18% of all US payments in 2022.
From paper to polymer banknotes. We have been issuing banknotes for over 300 years and make sure the banknotes we all use are of high quality. While the future demand for cash is uncertain, it is unlikely that cash will die out any time soon.
For its part, the US Federal Reserve is conducting research and strategic planning regarding the potential implementation of CBDCs, spurred on by Biden's executive order. Despite these efforts, America has yet to make a concrete commitment to adopting a digital dollar.
Although paper-based currencies are becoming less popular, they will likely stick around for the foreseeable future. Dollars and cents may become harder to use, but as with many obsolete technologies, there are enough users to ensure demand doesn't disappear completely.
Are we ready for cashless economy?
Is India Ready for a Cashless Economy? The government's initiatives have contributed to equipping people to leverage several fintech solutions over the years. But although India has achieved significant progress towards going completely digital, we still have a long way to go.
The fear of transmission coupled with lockdowns and other restrictions led to a boom in online shopping and cashless payments globally. As consumers continue to embrace the legacy of the pandemic and a surge in finance technologies, cash payments are expected to continue to decline in the coming years.
1 USD = 7.2398 CNY Apr 19, 2024 23:43 UTC
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The United States pays interest on approximately $850 billion in debt held by the People's Republic of China. China, however, is currently in default on its sovereign debt held by American bondholders.
“In order to overtake the dollar as a leading international and reserve currency, China will have to further liberalise its capital account. But with the help of import financing, debt payments, payment infrastructures, currency swap lines, and offshore markets, the RMB can still gain a more important role.”
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