Technological advances make it less and less necessary to carry bills and coins in our wallet. Cryptocurrencies, Bizum, Paypal or credit cards make it easy for us to make payments and send money without having to use cash, does this mean that there will come a time when it will disappear completely?
Today we are more than used to sending and receiving money through mobile applications. Almost half of Spanish companies believe that banknotes and coins will disappear before 2030 despite the fact that 90% continue to use cash and carry an average of 50 euros in their wallets.
Will the money disappear in less than 10 years?
This is a rather complex question to which only experts can have an answer, although last year 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, record amounts were registered in terms of the number of banknotes in circulation. Large transactions are carried out digitally in many countries, where the use of cash is limited to avoid money laundering.
The introduction in our society of applications such as Paypal, Bizum or the acceptance of payments in companies and businesses with cryptocurrencies is encouraging us to leave behind the use of cash. All the forecasts about when cash will disappear have been precipitated by the global pandemic of Covid-19, since it has motivated many users who did not use to buy online have started to do so more regularly. Electronic money has become widespread and it is increasingly common to pay for a coffee or a loaf of bread using a credit card or some other contactless payment system.
Use of cash in Spain
According to some studies, Europeans are more attached to physical money as a general rule, while Asian countries are more likely to use alternative payment methods. As we can see in the following graph, Spain is one of the countries where the use of physical money reigns. Almost 9 out of 10 Spaniards choose cash as a form of payment rather than using credit cards or application payment systems.
In the case of Spain, not all autonomous communities have the same perception of the possible disappearance of physical money. Around 70% of the companies in Murcia consider that cash will never disappear while 52% of the companies in the community of Madrid maintain the belief that physical money will disappear from the map in less than ten years.
Card or cash?
According to data from Statista, Spain is the second European country where the use of cash predominates, while worldwide it is in seventh place after countries such as China or France in the use of card payments over cash. In the case of our country, the Bizum mobile payment tool has been one of those that has opened a ban on consumer confidence with regard to extending payments and transfers digitally. This tool that is integrated into the application of our bank allows us to easily settle accounts with friends, make purchases online at associated stores and even donate to an NGO.
What is clear is that we are in a constant transformation towards an increasingly digitized world. Who knows if the cash will disappear in 10 years. Studies and statistics suggest that it may be possible, but the evolution of society’s consumption habits in the coming years will mark the date when cash disappears completely.
