Is covid-19 marking the real beginning of the end of cash?

I was reading through my Yahoo Finance App & Saw an article suggesting COVID-19 is the end of cash.

What is everyone’s opinion on this & if you agree what cryptocurrencies is everyone buying?

Link I’m referring to

Personally I love paying with cash in some circumstances. In particular if I’m out in a restaurant or bar with friends. I hate looking at my bank statement online the day after and it’s full of every round I bought. If I pay by cash it just shows how much the total i withdrew. Otherwise if you’re out fri and sat you have to scroll down through each purchase. It’s pretty annoying after a while.

I have a debit card, I would not be buying any cryptocurrency.

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Hmm interesting - different view

Reduced use of cash has already been a trend in many places for some time, so I think there is a good chance that Covid-19 will accelerate that trend. In my country, there has already been official statistics of a decline in usage and it is unlikely that people who have made the change will eventually change back to cash.

Personally, I never have any cash at all, I always use a debit card. Nowadays, especially with contactless payment, and larger limits than previously, it is so easy to use even for very small payments such as car parks, etc.

Combination cards also make it more convenient to carry cards rather than cash.

But it is a pity in a way because bank notes are so interesting and have always been a part of national identity.

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Cash can be a good friend to the working man and has been under attack for a lot of years now. The advantage of cash is that You know when your wallet is empty and that can be a measure of whether you just need to get some more - or whether you are overspending - whereas just waving a card gives no such cautionary warning.

I tried to follow the OPs link but the site demanded I give it access to my location and allow them to interrogate my computer as to the contents of my personality - NO THANKS !

However paying by card gives that same information to the card provider. “they” contend cash is a temptation for us to evade paying taxes.

However there are wider considerations - If all your resources are “in the bank” then there is a possibility that Governments or others could use your own assets to “Control” your actions in a way similar to China’s “Social Credit” system. In fact we know that in USA hstorically Gold has been made “illegal” from time to time in the past - and citizens were legally obliged to give up their Gold in exchange for “paper money” - I can forsee such a situation happening again.

Rather than the question of whether cash in “notes” or numbers on a spreadsheet is the more appropriate measure of your “Worthiness” I am beginning to question whether “money” can survive at all ?

The actions of “Governments” and Central Banks of late appear to be trending towards the problems which beset John Law (The inventor of “Paper money” ) - Governments and Central Banks seem to be making the same “mistakes” which he did - and personally I see little chance of a resolution in the forseeable future - I cannot even think of any logical way the situation could be resolved.

In the van of the movement then @anon46773462 :sunglasses: There have been a couple of times in my early life when I was homeless and could not have a bank account and the numbers of such people are escalating as we type - just a thought

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Yep, that’s me! A bit of a paradox really since I am a keen collector of banknotes! :smiley: But to be honest, I don’t like using an ATM, they carry their own risks, and they are gradually becoming fewer and fewer, at least over here. And in some ATMs they now even charge to get your own money out!

And I hate suddenly finding myself short of cash when I suddenly need it. What if I were to buy you that beer that we talked about a long time ago and then find my wallet was empty! :slight_smile: I can already see the look that would be on your face :smiley:

But my concerns actually go more to the oldies that did not grow up in the digital age. They still queue up at the local bank branch to draw their cash and they cannot bank online at all. But the banks are not very accommodating and have severely cut back on both branches and staff and these poor people can often be seen queuing up for ages waiting for their queue number to ping!

Nowadays we have polymer notes anyway, which are not as nice to feel as paper notes.

But I guess this issue is not just about cards v. cash but also whether crypto will replace cash/cards. In that respect I am totally behind the times. I have not followed them at all because in the early days it seemed that crypto was very vulnerable to hacking and used largely for criminal activities like money laundering and blackmailing. But I can grandly confess that I have, this very morning taken my very first Bitcoin trade!!! Yes, its true, I have finally joined the crypto world with a whole one microlot position in BTCUSD! That’s risking a major $3 of pocket money this week… and what if I have to hold it overnight… :scream:

I probably wouldn’t have even thought about it if it wasn’t a lockdown situation.

Good to talk with you again!

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i had a small collection of bank notes as a child from my relatives that traveled around the world. I really enjoyed the differences and colors and designs.

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I’ve never been a fan of cash just from sheer convenience. I hate counting bills or receiving coins. :persevere:

I personally would rather just use my debit/credit card. But I do see the value of it in certain industries. I’ve read that servers prefer customers to tip in cash as that guarantees they actually get the money. I think cash is on its way out but that could be the same as declaring a couple years back that physical books are dead, they’re still around, just not as much. :slight_smile:

The first quarter of 2020 will be remembered as one of the most volatile times in financial markets since 2008 as the turmoil surrounding the coronavirus outbreak has contributed to panic, depression and catastrophe. In the FX market, there were many casualties from a virus outbreak, but some currencies were shining in the turmoil of the market.

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