A consumer pays for coffee using Apple Pay on their iPhone and a Square reader.

In a cashless society, financial transactions are not conducted with physical banknotes or coins, but instead with digital information (usually an electronic representation of money).[1][2] Cashless societies have existed from the time when human society came into existence, based on barter and other methods of exchange, and cashless transactions have also become possible in modern times using credit cards, debit cards, mobile payments, and digital currencies such as bitcoin.

Such a concept has been discussed widely, particularly because the world is experiencing a rapid and increasing use of digital methods of recording, managing, and exchanging money in commerce, investment and daily life in many parts of the world, and transactions which would historically have been undertaken with cash are often now undertaken electronically.[3][4] Some countries now set limits on transactions and transaction values for which non-electronic payment may be legally used.[5]

History

Early ideas of a cashless economy were expressed by Edward Bellamy in his novel Looking Backward.[6] The trend towards the use of non-cash transactions and settlement in daily life began during the 1990s when electronic banking became common. By the 2010s, digital payment methods were widespread in many countries, with examples including intermediaries such as PayPal, digital wallet systems such as Apple Pay, contactless and NFC payments by electronic card or smartphone, and electronic bills and banking, all in widespread use.[4] At this point cash had become actively disfavored in some kinds of transaction which would historically have been very ordinary to pay with physical tender, and larger cash amounts were in some situations treated with suspicion, due to its versatility and ease of use in money laundering and financing of terrorism. Additionally, payment with a large amount of cash has been actively prohibited by some suppliers and retailers,[7] to the point of coining the expression of a "war on cash".[8]

The 2016 United States User Consumer Survey Study claims that 75% of respondents preferred a credit or debit card as their payment method while only 11% of respondents preferred cash.[9] Since the founding of both companies in 2009, digital payments can now be made by methods such as Venmo and Square. Venmo allows individuals to make direct payments to other individuals without having cash accessible. Square is an innovation that allows primarily small businesses to receive payments from their clients.

By 2016, only about 2% of the value transacted in Sweden was by cash, and only about 20% of retail transactions were in cash. Fewer than half of bank branches in the country conducted cash transactions.[3] The move away from cash is attributed to banks convincing employers to use direct deposit in the 1960s, banks charging for checks starting in the 1990s, banks launching the convenient Swish smartphone-to-phone payment system in 2012, and the launch of iZettle for small merchants to accept credit cards in 2011.[3]

Research

Among the first sociological studies about cashless societies, see Aldo Haesler, Sociologie de l'argent et postmodernité, Geneva & Paris 1995.

Measurement

Share of payments

Estimated share of payments done by cashless methods (from studies published 2008–2013)[10][needs update]
Country%
Singapore61
Netherlands60
France59
Sweden59
Canada57
Belgium56
United Kingdom52
United States45
Australia35
Germany33
South Korea29
Spain16
Brazil15
Japan14
China10
UAE8
Taiwan6
Italy6
South Africa6
Poland5
Russia4
Mexico4
Greece2
Colombia2
India2
Kenya2
Thailand2
Malaysia2
Saudi Arabia1
Peru1
Egypt1
Indonesia0
Nigeria0

A common measure of how close to a "cashless society" a country is becoming is some measure of the number of cashless payments or person to person transactions that are completed in that country. For instance, the Nordic countries conduct more cashless transactions than most other Europeans. Levels of cash in circulation can widely differ between two countries with a similar measure of cashless transactions.