Though Sweden is considered the pioneer in the shift towards digital payments, many issues remain unaddressed. Officially, the share of cashMoney in physical form such as banknotes and coins. More transactions have decreased steadily since 2007, mainly driven by the push for alternative paymentA transfer of funds which discharges an obligation on the part of a payer vis-à-vis a payee. More methods including mobile apps. In addition, figures of the Riksbank – the central bank of Sweden – indicate that 95% of Swedish consumers own a bank account, facilitating a possible shift to cashless.
Nevertheless, Christina Wejshammar – Riksbank Head of the Cash and Payment systems department – reminded that a shift to cashless is possible only if consumers trust their public institutions and the alternative solutions offered. Moreover, she affirmed that the transition must be slow enough to help customers relying exclusively on cash to find other payment instruments and thus ensure that nobody is left behind, a task that may prove extremely difficult.
Furthermore, a fully digitalised system can be extremely vulnerable to data breaches. Recent attacks carried out against financial institutions and leading companies demonstrate how sophisticated and uncontrollable hackers’ actions can be. Moreover, consumers would be deprived of access to their moneyFrom the Latin word moneta, nickname that was given by Romans to the goddess Juno because there was a minting workshop next to her temple. Money is any item that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular region, country or socio-economic context. Its onset dates back to the origins of humanity and its physical representation has taken on very varied forms until the appearance of metal coins. The banknote, a typical representati... More in case of a system failure or natural disaster, leaving them without any resource. And finally, the demise of cash would go hand-in-hand with a loss of privacy as every transaction could be traced and registered, a major drawback that not everybody is ready to accept.
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