We already have a shining example of what a cashless society looks like – and how it works – in Sweden. WHAT A CASHLESS SOCIETY LOOKS LIKE Can you imagine your America... without cash? Would people in a civilized society even go for this? Yes, they will. In fact, they already have. Sweden is a great example... Nobody uses cash in Sweden these days – cash made up just 2% of the value of all payments in Sweden in 2015, according to Sweden’s central bank. And the Swedish central bank is actually considering issuing a government- backed digital currency – soon. It’s hard to imagine what “no cash” really means. So, let me give an example of what it looks like today in Sweden: Over half of the country’s bank branches no longer keep cash on hand , or take cash deposits. And many bank branches – especially in rural areas – no longer have ATMs! Can you believe it? “I don’t use cash anymore, for anything,” 26-year-old Swede Louise Henriksson told the Guardian newspaper. “You just don’t need it. Shops don’t want it; lots of banks don’t even have it. Even for a candy bar or a paper, you use a card or phone.” She’s not kidding, shops really don’t want it, and they can legally refuse to accept bills. It’s easy to understand not using cash at a store... but what about for other things?
As Harvard’s Rogoff explained it... A lot of my kids’ friends don’t even carry cash around. My son worked at Starbucks a summer ago, and I went in... I paid in cash, and my son said, ‘Dad, you’re the only person who has paid me in cash today.’ He might have been joking a little, but not much. Apparently, the ability to skip the line at Starbucks because you’ve already paid for your coffee on your mobile phone is more important than worrying about Big Brother. And that’s just it... Cashless payments are EASY. You can order and pay for your Starbucks coffee from your phone before you go in the store with just a couple taps. Think about this for a minute... Imagine that you and I had the task of coming up with a new money system, starting from scratch... We’re given a team of the planet’s brightest minds to help us come up with this new money system. Do you think our solution would be bills and coins? Of course not. Coins are clunky and heavy. Paper money is easily stolen or lost. It’s hard to store either one in large quantities. Cash as we know it exists for an obvious reason... because it’s what’s been around for centuries. And because there’s never been a better alternative. It might seem hard to imagine what a cashless society would look like. Could it really work? Yes, it can. In fact, it’s already working.
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