Visa is planning on subsidizing UK businesses to stop accepting cash entirely, emphasizing the need for a digital alternative.
The large payment processor is reportedly offering substantial incentives to businesses to go cashless, including free upgrades and plain subsidies. The goal is to get businesses to operate exclusively with electronic forms of payment such as cards, Apple Pay, etc. Visa will also reportedly soon test out this “cashless challenge” in the US, offering select businesses $10,000 to go cashless.
The war on cash is not going smoothly
Elsewhere in the world, the war on cash is not rolling out without conflict. India’s controversial demonetization efforts have not been as successful as planned. Telangana, the first cashless village in India, has reportedly gone back to cash payments. This was reportedly due to issues surrounding the use and expense of card readers, as few residents could figure out how to properly work them, and even fewer could afford their purchase. Cash, on the other hand, requires only simple counting to use effectively.
The transition away from cash can have human consequences as well. In Sweden, an old woman lost her life savings after attempting to exchange stored cash for newly-issued notes. This was due to her inability to provide proper accounting for her cash savings, which is required as an anti-criminal activity measure. The woman passed away since then, possibly hastened by the financial stress of the situation.
Dash taking digital cash to the front, not back, of the payments world
Cash is being pushed towards obsolescence by more modern payment system, however it still maintains key advantages such as privacy, ease of use, permanent settlement, and lack of necessary third party except for its issuing central bank. Dash offers the cash-like experience of private, instant, and permanently settled transactions without requiring the trust of a third party. However, Dash also provides easy balances and transaction history, global transfers, and other features more in line with modern payment systems. By making cash digital, it is much better position to not only survive the war on cash, but out-compete traditional payment processors as well.
To this end, Dash is hard at work integrating into hundreds of businesses worldwide, and is busy working on a sleek point-of-sale system to be unveiled in the coming months. Dozens of ATMs, thousands of kiosks, and thousands of post office branches have begun to offer Dash for purchase worldwide, and a wristband offering offline Dash payments geared for festivals is coming by the end of the year.
Another excellent article. My only (small) criticism is this line, ” Dash also provides easy balances and transaction history, global transfers, and other features more in line with modern payment systems.”
Nope. Dash is not “in line with (other) modern payment systems”. Dash is way better. I can send money to my son in Canada in a minute. A check or wire transfer can take 1-2 weeks or more. And it costs less. Much less.