Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Canada 'sleepwalking' into cashless society, consumer advocates warn

cbc.ca

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 325 posts

Re: Canada 'sleepwalking' into cashless society, consumer advocates warn

#21

Post by blfr »

drewcoo wrote: post #3
xvector wrote: post #2

10% is way higher than I thought. Probably Cash is cumbersome and annoying. I wish there was a digital anonymous replacement.

> Cash is cumbersome and annoying. So is freedom. Tech that robs us of freedom offers ease of use or extra "free as in beer" services.

Freedom is usually the opposite of cumbersome and annoying. And current payment tech does not rob us of freedom.

I can wire money to virtually anyone in the EU at no cost. I can pay any merchant in the world with a credit card, in any currency, with minimal spread. It's both convenient and greatly expands my options for engaging in commerce.

Cashless system operated by regulated banks certainly comes with a risk of being used as a tool of repression (like it was in Canada during the truckers protests) but as of now it's freeing (as in speech).

Re: Canada 'sleepwalking' into cashless society, consumer advocates warn

#22

Post by mixmastamyk »

stavros wrote: post #16

I really hate paying by credit card (I don't like asking the bank for permission to spend my own money), but it's so convenient that I can't bring myself to carry cash any more. I have a really nice small wallet that I can store a few notes in, but I need a compartment for That's literally the entire reason I pay by card nowadays, I just don't like carrying coins.

We put coins in a small bowl and take it to a change machine once in a while.

Re: Canada 'sleepwalking' into cashless society, consumer advocates warn

#23

Post by TheChaplain »

jpnguyen wrote: post #14

Japan has tap payments for public transit and restaurants for decades, while simultaneously being very cash driven. Will be interesting to see how the cash meta evolves with different countries and cultures.

Afaik drug deals are often done cash, so as long as that market exist cash won't disappear I believe.

Re: Canada 'sleepwalking' into cashless society, consumer advocates warn

#24

Post by stavros »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #22
stavros wrote: post #16

I really hate paying by credit card (I don't like asking the bank for permission to spend my own money), but it's so convenient that I can't bring myself to carry cash any more. I have a really nice small wallet that I can store a few notes in, but I need a compartment for That's literally the entire reason I pay by card nowadays, I just don't like carrying coins.

We put coins in a small bowl and take it to a change machine once in a while.

I do too, but I have loose pockets in the summer and carrying change in them until I get home is a bit of a hassle.

Re: Canada 'sleepwalking' into cashless society, consumer advocates warn

#25

Post by vhcr »

tonetegeatinst wrote: post #18
xvector wrote: post #2

10% is way higher than I thought. Probably Cash is cumbersome and annoying. I wish there was a digital anonymous replacement.

XMR is probably your best bet for privacy digital currency. That said XMR isn't stable like the USD is, but it also didn't have infinite printability as once market cap is reached then only tail emmisions are rewarded for mining....iirc that a set value of 20. XMR is the best for privacy, is resistant to asic mining and GPU mining, and is a time proven crypto. That said if your just using it so you can gain money fro…

Just to be nit-picky, but Monero can be mined with GPUs.

Re: Canada 'sleepwalking' into cashless society, consumer advocates warn

#26

Post by Molitor5901 »

stavros wrote: post #16

I really hate paying by credit card (I don't like asking the bank for permission to spend my own money), but it's so convenient that I can't bring myself to carry cash any more. I have a really nice small wallet that I can store a few notes in, but I need a compartment for That's literally the entire reason I pay by card nowadays, I just don't like carrying coins.

I hate it too and limit my credit card to use to online transactions because of the fraud protections.

Re: Canada 'sleepwalking' into cashless society, consumer advocates warn

#27

Post by BarryMilo »

janice1999 wrote: post #6

Governments really need to break the Visa and Mastercard Duopoly. Not mentioned in this article, but certainly related, was the Canadian governments unprecedented step to freeze hundreds of bank accounts of protestors during COVID protests using their Emergencies Act. While I couldn't be more politically removed from the protestors, using a legislative power envisioned for war like conditions to personally ruin prote…

Break? It's practically enshrined in the law, seeing as any given bank can only have one credit card affiliated with it. So if I'm e.g. a normal National Bank client, I get to have a Visa card or no card at all.

I suppose online banks could change things a bit, but without that, introducing a new credit card provider is practically impossible.

Re: Canada 'sleepwalking' into cashless society, consumer advocates warn

#29

Post by nerdjon »

xvector wrote: post #2

10% is way higher than I thought. Probably Cash is cumbersome and annoying. I wish there was a digital anonymous replacement.

It has come to the point that I switched to a wallet that I can put 1 or 2 bills in at most before it becomes cumbersome. I just keep a $20 in it for the once or twice a month I don’t just use card.

I get the privacy issues, but in this particular case the convenience far outweighs it. I honestly sometimes get annoyed when I go to a cash only place and often just don’t go.

Re: Canada 'sleepwalking' into cashless society, consumer advocates warn

#30

Post by elevatedastalt »

blfr wrote: post #21
drewcoo wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Cash is cumbersome and annoying. So is freedom. Tech that robs us of freedom offers ease of use or extra "free as in beer" services.

Freedom is usually the opposite of cumbersome and annoying. And current payment tech does not rob us of freedom. I can wire money to virtually anyone in the EU at no cost. I can pay any merchant in the world with a credit card, in any currency, with minimal spread. It's both convenient and greatly expands my options for engaging in commerce. Cashless system operated by regulated banks certainly comes with a risk of b…

You will find out how easily you can wire money to someone in the EU if you decide to hold political opinions that are not in line with the ruling elite.

The truckers in Canada for sure found out how "free" the digits of their bank accounts were.

Russian oligarchs for sure found it out in 2022.

Post reply on HN