Less Cash Maybe, But Not Cashless
Nov 5, 2024
Patrick Collison, CEO and co-founder of major fintech and payment processing company Stripe, sees a less cash, not a cashless future, pointing out that physical money offers unique advantages that mean it’s ‘unlikely to disappear’.
Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald during the Stripe Tour event in Sydney, Collison acknowledged the fall in cash usage over the past decade, but feels it retains an important role in terms of resilience. Cash doesn’t crash, making it a vital backup even for those who choose cashless payments more often.
There’s still some utility in cash. It doesn’t run out of battery, and it works better when, you know, the cell network is down… Cash is not going to go away entirely.
His sentiment is backed up by Australia’s largest bank, which says that while mobile wallet payments have recently overtaken cash withdrawals from ATMs for the first time, cash access remains critical.
While the vast majority of payments across Australia are now made via card and digital means, many people still want access to cash. Cash is, and will remain, an important part of the economy… We are committed to making sure cash is available to our customers who need it.
Key issues identified by David Swan, Technology Editor for the Sydney Morning Herald, are inclusivity and resilience. Cash is usable by anyone of any age, without requiring a bank account or technical knowledge. Also—crucially—it can be used offline and with no electricity, so whether there’s a major IT outage or a phone has simply run out of battery, cash is always available to purchase essentials.
Another serious concern is… that an overreliance on technology for payments will leave businesses and consumers exposed in the event of a mass outage, such as the recent CrowdStrike incident that crippled supermarkets and businesses globally. Some estimates put the damage bill from the outage at more than $1 billion in Australia alone.
Ultimately, economies and individuals alike benefit from having both cash and cashless payment options available. Despite the obvious rewards to fintech companies and banks from cashless transactions—including the potential to monetise personal and financial data—they also recognise the advantages of cash, and see future economies as being less cash, but not cashless.