Cash is disappearing. Not slowly. Not subtly. It’s vanishing in plain sight.
Globally, physical currency use is in freefall. In Sweden, are made with cash. In several other countries, cash payments have dropped over the years.
A shared that, in the U.S., ATM numbers dropped from 470,000 in 2019 to 451,500 by the end of 2022, according to Euromonitor International. Many Americans stopped using cash during the pandemic, and haven’t gone back, notes consumer finance researcher Kendrick Sands.
Governments are pushing for this. Why? Because digital money is easier to track, harder to counterfeit, and better for surveillance. You can’t trace a $10 bill, but you can track a Venmo payment with frightening precision.
That crumpled $20 in your back pocket? It’s becoming a relic.