Is Cash Dead?

. Professor Chris Speed, chair of design informatics at Edinburgh University, says: “Cash is in retreat, so someone is going to have to pull the plug.” New Money Review editor Paul Amery argues: “The death of cash has been pushed further into the future, because governments are intervening to keep it alive, but they’re only delaying the inevitable.” He predicts its disappearance by around 2030. Fearing unless they launch digital currencies of their own, they risk losing control of the monetary system, several leading central banks are working on central-bank digital currencies.
China is doing more to shape the future of money than anywhere else. It is expected to launch a digital yuan, potentially becoming a cashless society, within the next few years. However, Databricks global financial services industry leader Junta Nakai doubts whether, “for reasons of national security and equality”, most governments will permit cash to disappear.