What future do you want for cashMoney in physical form such as banknotes and coins. More?
Over the past decades, there has been a massive wave of digitalisation, including of 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 and payments. As in many other industries (music, travel, film, shopping…), the adoption of new technologies has radically changed the organisation, the structure and the perception of the monetary system.
Will cash survive? Will cash be able to resist the successive waves of digitalization, or is it merely a question of time before it becomes part of monetary history?
Should it survive? What value does cash bring to a diversified monetary landscape? Is that value specific to cash or can it be replaced by digital money?
Can we make cash evolve to ensure its future sustainability?
In our view, the Future of Cash is not merely a competition between cash & digital, nor limited to payments only. The discussion should not be focused on technology (form) but rather on the social and economic role (function) of money.
LET’S BECOME FUTURE LITERATE
According to UNESCO, “Futures literacy is a capability. It is the skill that allows people to better understand the role that the future plays in what they see and do. People can become more skilled at ‘using-the-future’, more ‘futures literate’, because of two facts. One is that the future does not yet exist, it can only be imagined. Two is that humans have the ability to imagine. As a result, humans are able to learn to imagine the future for different reasons and in different ways. Thereby becoming more ‘futures literate’.”
The pandemic has had a brutal impact on retail payments as the shutdown of entire economic sectors – air travel, cultural events, restaurants… – combined with lockdown policies around the globe have led to a sharp reduction in transaction volumes, whether cash or digital.
According to UNESCO, “Futures literacy is a capability. It is the skill that allows people to better understand the role that the future plays in what they see and do.