Thailand here, we barely use cash with the PromptPay system that allows a simple QR code or your phone number to be linked to your account and receive payments, businesses just print their QRCode and you use your banking app to transfer, pretty fast and convenient. This is instant and no fees by the way.
Ask HN: To what extent have digital payments replaced cash in your country?
71–80 of 162 posts
Re: Ask HN: To what extent have digital payments replaced cash in your country?
#72Finland is virtually 100 % cashless. Open markets, grocery stores, restaurants, second-hand shops, flee markets, etc... — they all accept cards. I cannot recall a single place that didn't accept cards. They do accept cash too, though, but most people nowadays use cards.
I have been living in Athens for a few months now. Most brick-and-mortar places, if not all, accept cards but when you go to an open street market, it's cash-only. Also, if you buy something like tobacco, they only accept cash even though they have POS systems in place. It has something to do with the taxes (or circumventing them?).
Re: Ask HN: To what extent have digital payments replaced cash in your country?
#73Representing Sub-Saharan Africa, Uganda and Kenya mostly, Mobile Money and M-Pesa are ruling payments, even for very small amounts. However, the charges here in Uganda are still high. Cash is quicker and definitely cheaper.
Re: Ask HN: To what extent have digital payments replaced cash in your country?
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
Would you also not care if that dataset gets leaked to the internet some day?
If your bank leaks data, you would be in so much trouble that thinking about privacy implications of that would be pretty low on your list. That's just your bank. If a global payment processor like Visa would leak data, there probably would be ripples going through most financial system (i.e. whole countries abandoning it, etc).
How would the bank leaking data cause trouble?
Re: Ask HN: To what extent have digital payments replaced cash in your country?
#75Australia: almost all cashless. You only get some cash when you buy a used car, pay a tutor or something else like that. The govt endgame seems to be forcing most of the cash out of circulation, a ban on cash purchases of more that $10000 (with some exceptions) is already in place. https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-10/28454_fa...
It depends where you go, especially dependent upon the town (for example, Springvale in Victoria has a large ethnic Vietnamese community, and a lot of business is done using cash)
In addition using cash often saves you money. A lot of restaurants will literally give you a discount if you pay with cash.
Re: Ask HN: To what extent have digital payments replaced cash in your country?
#76In South Africa, middle-income and above can be almost all digital if they choose. Some folks prefer cash and it's still accepted most places, though I'm seeing some places go cashless more recently.
This is the case even at small markets etc. Over the last two years mobile NFC machines have become widespread.
The only area where I personally feel like I need cash is with car guards (literally people who stand and look after cars in parking areas). I'm not a fan of the profession, but it's culturally common place and many folks tip in small denominations of notes or coins.
Re: Ask HN: To what extent have digital payments replaced cash in your country?
#77Here in Paris (France), I always use my credit† card, for everything from a drink in a bar to groceries to burgers to whatever. Most of the time, I use the contactless feature of my plastic card (works for anything under 50€), and sometimes, using my phone using Google Play, which is linked to my card, but doesn't have the 50€ ceiling for regulatory reasons.
I used to carry some cash for my nearest automatic laundery machines, but even that one now features a contactless payment dongle, so it's nearly useless for me.
† I say "credit card", but most plastic card WE carry on France are actually debit card, i.e. there is no specific credit card balance to top or anything, it's directly withdrawned from your account. (There is something hybrid called "differed debit card", that mimic some of the credit card experience, but it's basically buffering your withdrawals, without any "true" credit happening).
Re: Ask HN: To what extent have digital payments replaced cash in your country?
#78I'm in France. We've been using chip & pin cards for small-ish transactions since the early 90s, but it's only with Covid that the last few remnants who didn't use contactless (e.g. me) finally stopped using cash.
There are a few holdouts (e.g. I took a bus in the country side last week that only accepted cash payments), but that's about it.
Re: Ask HN: To what extent have digital payments replaced cash in your country?
#79Since nobody's chimed in here from Germany yet: Germany's broadly a hold-out. Particularly a lot of restaurants, bars and clubs are still cash-only, and some smaller shops definitely prefer cash. Used cars are, interestingly, almost always cash-only. Person to person transactions (i.e. buying something you pick up in person) are almost always cash. Open air markets (produce, flea markets) are always cash. Electronic…
Yes, I agree, I was going to write the same. But to be honest, I like cash. The feeling of the cash flowing out of your hand is much more palpable than when you use a card :) In Switzerland there is a national app for sending cash to friends that is really handy and popular (TWINT)
> The feeling of the cash flowing out of your hand is much more palpable than when you use a card :)
I prefer using credit card, as it's easy to lose track of how much I'm spending with cash. With card, I have a statement at the end of the month so I can see what I have spent.
Re: Ask HN: To what extent have digital payments replaced cash in your country?
#80Czech Republic. Usually my girlfriend has ~$5 on her for stuff like lemonade stands or public bathrooms, and I'm the irresponsible one who hasn't carried cash since 2018. Some pubs, very small stores or small tourist attractions (climb a tower, see the inside of a church, etc) are still cash-only, especially in the rural parts of the country, but visiting or living in Prague (the capital) cashless is easy with zero issues.