Legal tender

Latest YouGov findings reveal 71% of the British public would support making it a legal requirement for businesses to accept cash.

The European Commission has put forward two proposals to ensure that euro-area citizens and businesses can continue to access and pay with cash, and to set out a framework for a possible digital euro.

Paying taxes in cash is arduous, time-consuming and discouraged, but it is possible. For the unbanked, alternative ways to pay are costly.

Queen Elizabeth II’s passing marked the beginning of a complex redesign and updating of banknotes and coins in the United Kingdom and many countries worldwide.

Bitcoin became legal tender in El Salvador in September 2021. Since then, its volatility has worsened the country's precarious financial situation.

A new bill would preserve the right of Americans to pay cash and would prevent merchants from rejecting it. It is gaining bipartisan support in Congress.

Glitches marred the adoption of bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador, causing anger and anxiety to customers and retailers.

New legislation in Spain protects freedom of payment choice and guarantees consumer rights by allowing consumers to pay with cash anytime and everywhere.

El Salvador has become the first country to make bitcoin legal tender, hoping to increase financial inclusion. Critics fear it will become a vigilance tool for the government.

The bi-partisan bill would prohibit businesses and retailers from refusing to accept cash from consumers for in-person, brick-and-mortar retail purchases.

The People’s Bank of China tells merchants to accept cash or face sanctions in the wake of a widening digital divide. The rapid transition to digital payments is leaving some behind and creating “gaps of digitalization”.

A case before the top European Court could have important implications for the status of banknotes and coins as legal tender and the acceptance of cash. In this second part, we analyse the link between legal tender and the exercise of fundamental rights. We also look at the implications of legal tender for a central bank digital currency (CBDC).