We've all heard the expression cash is king, but will this be true in an increasingly digitised future? We argue that alternative digital standards and blockchain technologies such as Bitcoin will create a future were we are no longer dependent on cash. Some of you might feel threaten by this, but as a matter of fact the payment evolution can in several ways improve our lives. Here are three insights on the future of payments from Futurist Anders Sörman-Nilsson and his research team at Thinque.
Reserve Bank of Australia reported in 2013 that consumers are making less use of cash over time while other electronic payment methods are on the rise. A possible driver could according to the Reserve Bank be the adoption of contactless payments which enables faster transaction times.
In a previous blog post - The Digital Revolution is Creating a Shift Towards Cashless Societies - we shared some research which revealed that cash have dropped from 70% to 47% of transactions between 2007 and 2013, and the demand for coins has dropped by 25% in the last three years.
An increasing number of Australians are adopting mobile wallets and research from CommBank reveals that they will replace physical wallets by 2021. Moreover, they refer to a survey which show that 73% of Australians expect mobile wallets to replace their entire physical wallet within the next seven and half years. It's becoming increasingly clear that consumers crave seamless payments solutions such as the Swedish app Swish.
Government's costs for printing money and minting coins can be reduced and removing these costs will benefit both individuals and society as a whole. In an article from The Wall Street Journal Mr. Dharmapalan, founder and chief executive of eCM, said that distributing digital currency would only cost 10% of what it costs to print and distribute physical cash. Moreover, he asserts that a central bank-backed digital currency would enable central bankers to better track transactions since cash transactions are anonymous.