Few countries have been moving toward a cashless society
as fast as Sweden. But cash is being squeezed out so quickly — with
half the nation’s retailers predicting they will stop accepting bills
before 2025 — that the government is recalculating the societal costs of
a cash-free future.
The financial authorities, who once embraced the trend, are asking banks to keep peddling notes and coins
until the government can figure out what going cash-free means for
young and old consumers. The central bank, which predicts cash may fade
from Sweden, is testing a digital currency
— an e-krona — to keep firm control of the money supply. Lawmakers are
exploring the fate of online payments and bank accounts if an electrical
grid fails or servers are thwarted by power failures, hackers or even
war.
“When you are where we are, it
would be wrong to sit back with our arms crossed, doing nothing, and
then just take note of the fact that cash has disappeared,” said Stefan
Ingves, the governor of Sweden’s central bank, known as the Riksbank.
“You can’t turn back time, but you do have to find a way to deal with
change.”
Ask most people in Sweden how often they pay with cash, and the answer
is “almost never.” A fifth of Swedes, in a country of 10 million people,
do not use automated teller machines anymore. More than 4,000 Swedes
have implanted microchips
in their hands, allowing them to pay for rail travel and food, or enter
keyless offices, with a wave. Restaurants, buses, parking lots and even
pay toilets depend on clicks rather than cash.
Read more at: Sweden’s Push to Get Rid of Cash Has Some Saying, ‘Not So Fast’ - The New York Times
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