I think privacy crypto will be big if cash goes away.
Physical cash is dying–and you don't need to be a conspiracist to worry
111–120 of 498 posts
Re: Physical cash is dying–and you don't need to be a conspiracist to worry
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
Assuming they (or someone else) owned the notes, yes. By reducing their own holdings, they raised the value of everyone else's. If the notes were counterfeit or had otherwise managed to come into existence without being owned by anyone, then no.
Would it raise the value of the currency if the central bank didn't know this stash was destroyed? It seems like this pile of cash would still be considered to be "in circulation" until the central bank declared it to not be.
The central bank's knowledge isn't relevant in any way. The value of the currency goes up because the willingness of people to spend it went down. You can't spend money that doesn't exist, so this effect will occur regardless of anyone's knowledge of anything.
Re: Physical cash is dying–and you don't need to be a conspiracist to worry
#113The other day, I paid cash at the local Chinese-American place, and the owner said "thank you for using cash, it helps small businesses", which took me by surprise. So I asked how much card processors charge, and she went on a bit of a rant, listing processing fees for everything from regular debit cards* charging 3-4% to rewards credit cards being around 7% to special international or world credit cards charging something like 17%. And most of them have a very narrow window to correct or void the transaction. With such rent-seeking behavior by banks, I very much understand wanting to keep cash around.
* Debit cards charged as debit, by entering a PIN. Some terminals allow you to "bypass PIN" and/or automatically charge debit cards as credit. I don't know, it's shady.
Re: Physical cash is dying–and you don't need to be a conspiracist to worry
#114Pakistan is still a cash based economy, many outlet either deny card payments or apply a processing fee to encourage cash transactions. "State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data indicates that the Cash in Circulation (CinC) has increased to Rs9. 2 trillion ($32 billion) at the end of June 2023, which is equivalent to 30 per cent of the total money supply (M2), or around 11pc of the national GDP." [0] 0: https://www.dawn.com…
If you take white economy and black economy its maybe 50:50 in Pakistan hence the we are still using mostly cash. Most of the rich and the ruling class are rich because of illegal/untaxed wealth so its not in their interests to get a digital payment system. Where as the taxes are so high that the rest prefer not to use digital systems either. I don't know if its still the case but 15-20 years ago post dated cheques used to go from company to company without being deposited into the bank as it was an easier way to transport large amounts without it getting officially documented.
Even the most used digital systems in Pakistan have so far been of moving cash from 1 place to another. Like you deposit money in 1 shop and it is paid cash to your family in another shop.
Either the shop pay 17% sales tax by getting payment through credit card or takes a cash payment and hide the sale
Re: Physical cash is dying–and you don't need to be a conspiracist to worry
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
On the rare occasions I use them--mostly when traveling--I've noticed some ATMs offering a choice of denominations. But it was certainly true historically that ATMs tended to spit out bills in denominations that were at least at the high end of what people used for day to day transactions.
The ATMs I use use the least number of bills for the amount you asked. If they have lower denominations, I sometimes make two withdrawals in order to avoid the larger bills.
I don't think I've ever seen an ATM in the US spit out larger than $20s which is basically the largest denomination you can count on a store taking even though there are $50s and $100s in general circulation. (Which has essentially been the case for many decades.)
Re: Physical cash is dying–and you don't need to be a conspiracist to worry
#116I believe once we go fully cashless, we'll regret it and wish we could go back. I can barely enjoy a full day without being required to bring my phone / debit card with me because the register does not accept cash.
Who knows, maybe this is the good timeline and "money goes the way of the dinosaurs" so we get to enjoy a Star Trek-like future.
Change Star Trek to Soylent Green or Elysium and you're closer.
Re: Physical cash is dying–and you don't need to be a conspiracist to worry
#117I Denmark we are removing the 1000kr bill as of May 2025. from then on the highest bill. is 500kr which is roughly equal to 80 usd. Denmark Is the most cashless society I have yet experiences (and I have been traveling a fair bit). This comes with pros and cons. and I think the reason why it works is because of an incredibly high social trust.
I have visited Denmark and this is definitely last country I want to live. Just simple the worst. I've lived and visited about 40-50 countries in my life, maybe more, it is hard to count.
For me Denmark is best example of modern slavery with brainwashed slaves. I was born in USSR and current Denmark looks very similar. The values of society are too far from what I respect.
I believe if this work in Denmark all other countries should avoid it with all costs.
Re: Physical cash is dying–and you don't need to be a conspiracist to worry
#118I Denmark we are removing the 1000kr bill as of May 2025. from then on the highest bill. is 500kr which is roughly equal to 80 usd. Denmark Is the most cashless society I have yet experiences (and I have been traveling a fair bit). This comes with pros and cons. and I think the reason why it works is because of an incredibly high social trust.
I'm in Sweden, a strong contender for the most cashless country, and I don't know what the banknotes look like. They were changed some 5 or 6 years ago and I haven't paid with or even withdrawn cash since then. For illustration, cash is generally not accepted outside of grocery stores and some chains. For a typical restaurant, coffee shop or takeaway there's very little chance they take cash. Street vendors may take cash but will definitely have a proper cashless payment method.
I really don't like cash and am happy to see it basically dead in the country. I'm also very concerned about privacy, I'm that sort of HN person - never had a Facebook account, run self-hosted email for 20 years, use Signal for messaging as much as I can, etc. But I don't think cash is a good solution to privacy. I'd rather see laws and (better) cryptocurrencies as the privacy toolkit.
One common concern I see from US-centric articles is about your transaction history being sold for ad targeting, etc. That at least is illegal here. A store is not allowed to track your history of purchases or similar unless you opt in, such as via a store loyalty card. Banks are not allowed to disclose anything about your accounts except in some investigatory contexts, but definitely not for commercial purposes. So neither "the store will track my purchases because I pay by card" nor "the bank will sell my history to advertisers", which would be major issues for me, are actual concerns.
Re: Physical cash is dying–and you don't need to be a conspiracist to worry
#119It's strange that governments are not minting more digital currency if the demand for physical currency is falling.
Tell me you're a bitcoin guy that's never taken a single Macro class without telling me...
Government prerogative is to create currency ex-nihilo; there's no need waste a bunch of energy in that process.
Re: Physical cash is dying–and you don't need to be a conspiracist to worry
#120Obligatory Neuromancer (1984) reference: His total assets were quickly converted to New Yen, a fat sheaf of the old paper currency that circulated endlessly through the closed circuit of the world's black markets like the seashells of the Trobriand islanders. It was difficult to transact legitimate business with cash in the Sprawl; in Japan, it was already illegal. I am fairly convinced that using cash will slowly be…
> I am fairly convinced that using cash will slowly be labeled as a "criminal" activity and gradually shamed into non-use by regular people. Of course. The only people who need cash are criminals and terrorists. Now move along citizen.
> The only people who
There have been political groups spreading and promoting exactly that concept.
"Thieves and junkies", they say. Forgetting completely "people with dignity" - also because that image is fading from aggregate memory.