In a recent opinion piece, Holger Regenbrecht of New Zealand’s University of Otago weighs the democratic, economic and privacy implications of a move to cashless economies. His conclusion? While the technological infrastructure may be sufficient, societies are not ready to go cashless.
Cash-free payments offer some appealing features. They are convenient, and some can be integrated into phone apps or multipurpose cards that can help minimise the things that need to be carried when leaving the house. On the other hand, Regenbrecht points out, they do come at the cost of ‘privacy, economic power, and democracy at large’.
