Post
Topic
Board Economics
Re: How long will it take banks to phase out physical cash completely?
by
Abiky
on 01/09/2020, 17:59:53 UTC
Certainly it'll take decades if not years before banks can completely eradicate physical cash to adopt digital money.
This may be faster in some countries than others but still, it will take a long time.
Consider Africa, this is a place where a large percentage of the population are illiterate. These are people who cannot read or write people who can't operate a smartphone or a computer. How then is it possible for these people to adopt digital cash? These are people who trust only what is right in front of them
I'd say eventually we'll get there but it is not possible in the nearest future for every single person in the world to adopt digital cash

Yeah. There's no hurry for phasing out physical cash, as old people are reluctant to change their habits. This will be a long journey as governments and central banks slowly introduce CBDCs to the world. In the meantime, we can enjoy stablecoins which serve the exact same purpose of a CBDC. You can easily convert your Fiat to a stablecoin of your choice to get the "best of both worlds". There are some stablecoins living on scalable blockchain networks allowing you to enjoy blazing fast transactions for less than a penny. The difference between a CBDC and a stablecoin is the way they're regulated by mainstream governments. The former will have all the backing of investors, traders, and everyday people just like it's the case with physical cash (Fiat) today.

The real issue would be getting third-world or developing countries to adopt digital currencies (CBDCs) at a large scale. People living on these countries are still not fond of technology, so it'll take a longer time than usual for physical cash to be phased out completely from the face of this Earth. Slowly but surely, we'll experience a fully-cashless society as physical cash becomes a thing of the past. The average person won't notice the benefits except central banks and governments themselves. Let's hope that the transition from the old monetary system to a modern one turns out to be a smooth one. Just my thoughts Grin