Cash and Freedom Under Threat

Cash and Freedom Under Threat

A ten-fold drop in the use of cash in just two decades. The figure highlights not just the decline of cash, but also the seemingly inexorable rise of privacy-free electronic payment systems. Banking body UK Finance has estimated only 6 per cent of transactions will be paid for in cash by 2031, down from 60 per cent a decade ago.

The days of worrying about whether you have remembered your wallet or purse could soon be over as digital payments become more popular, new research suggests.

One in five Britons do not expect to carry a physical wallet or purse in the next five years, a survey by Mastercard found. 

And 51 per cent of those surveyed think they will become less relevant.

A third of 18 to 34-year-olds already prefer payments via a digital wallet, compared to just 5 per cent of those over 55.

Around half of the 2,000 people surveyed said they only carried a wallet to store non-payment cards such as driving licences and loyalty cards.

The demise of physical wallets has been accelerated by the declining use of cash. It is, of course, all very convenient, and the finance industry and the taxman are delighted at the decline of cash. But lovers of freedom and privacy must look at these trends with great foreboding. And determine to do everything possible to keep cash alive by using and demanding it. The alternative is a rapid move first to surveillance finances, and then to Mark of the Beast payment chip inserts. Resist!

 



 

 

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