With an ever-increasing range of digital payments available, it may come as a surprise that demand for physical money—especially high-denomination notes—is also rising, but it shouldn’t. The comfort and security offered by cash in a crisis are as tangible as ever, and in a digital world, the privacy of cash transactions is a unique commodity.
In America, and other countries using its currency, demand for dollar bills has been setting new records, reaching $2.09 trillion by the end of 2020. Having risen 16 percent since February that year (pre-pandemic) the figure has also doubled since 2011. So, while COVID-19 has driven a normal surge in cash holdings—with periods of uncertainty typically seeing a rise of currency in circulation as people turn to the dependable security of cash—the upward trend predates the pandemic, which has only accelerated it.
