While bank card payments are increasing rapidly, the boss of the Paris Mint recalls all the advantages of “cash”

Is maintaining the possibility of paying in cash, in a digital world, a guarantee of freedom? Readers of Margaret Atwood will recall that in her dystopia The Handmaid's Tale, the author created a totalitarian society in 1985 where cash no longer existed: dematerialized money, which had become a means of control, had been confiscated from women.

Decades later, while digital payment methods continue to gain ground at the expense of cash, the CEO of the Monnaie de Paris, Marc Schwartz, sounds the alarm in a note, “The great paradox — or why the reign of cash is far from over”, published Friday, January 8 by the think tank Terra Nova.

Within the eurozone, the use of bank cards increased by five points between 2016 and 2019, from 19% to 24% (41% in value). Since then, the possible transmission of Covid-19 through coins and bills has accelerated the switch. “Over the next twenty years, the use of cash will be (...) very limited,” David Marcus, the co-founder of Libra, Facebook's digital currency project, told Le Monde on June 7, 2020. “A cashless society seems attractive. A modern idea, symbolizing real technological progress, it is in tune with the times, acknowledges Mr. Schwartz, fueled by campaigns cleverly orchestrated by economic actors who have an interest in it.”

Tracing

However, cash has serious advantages, according to the head of the currency maker. It makes it possible to settle a transaction anonymously and to protect individual data, while “card or online payments leave behind a payment history accessible by private or public institutions,” the report highlights. A trace that the Pixpay neobank already offers to parents of adolescents, to allow them to block their purchases in shops deemed inappropriate.

In addition, cash remains the only completely free payment method for individuals, the report highlights. Bank cards or payment applications, on the other hand, have a cost.

“Inclusive”, only cash finally allows those who do not have a bank account or who do not have sufficient knowledge of digital tools to access a payment method. “There are still around 30 million adults without bank accounts in the Union,” said Brussels in September 2020, which “expects Member States to ensure the acceptance and accessibility of cash as a public good.” At the end of 2021, it could take measures to protect the availability of euros in cash.

Countries that were precursors to “cashless” have begun to correct the situation. In Sweden, where the value of cash in circulation was halved between 2007 and 2018, the government passed a law requiring banks to continue offering cash-related services, as of January 1, 2021. In the United States, several cities, such as New York, Philadelphia or San Francisco, have recently prohibited businesses from accepting only bank cards.