Even in the age of information technology, many prefer good old cash
Read the beginning of the article:
CASH DOES NOT SURRENDER (Part 1)
APOSTLES OF THE MONEY PRINTING PRESS
Of course, saying that cash is not disappearing from use is not the same as saying that real money will always look the same. Banks and banknote manufacturers are constantly fighting counterfeiters, a struggle that dates back at least to the 4th century BC. And our future money will, presumably, become much more 'digital' than it is now.
Companies that print money, such as Crane, are developing futuristic banknotes with large, easily distinguishable security features. As Ziegler says, the most reliable security features are the most obvious ones. 'You want them to be technologically advanced, but at the same time, it's obvious that if they are missing, an ordinary cashier will notice it,' he says. For this reason, he continues, future money will still feature portrait images. And not only because we love to immortalize certain people. The point is that we easily detect distortions in images of faces. 'If the hair looks different or glasses are missing, we will notice it immediately,' says Ziegler. 'Portraits are a great security feature.'
In addition to equipping banknotes with advanced security features, some are toying with the idea of casting a digital layer over the real world. In 2001, the European Union considered equipping every banknote with a radio frequency identification chip – RFID. This was supposed to be a response to the discovery of a huge number of counterfeit euros in Greece. Ultimately, EU officials rejected this idea because its implementation would dramatically increase the cost of producing banknotes.
At the same time, as Kristin says, the money of the future will likely be abundant with all these digital elements. And it's not about the current lack of technology, Kristin continues, but about infrastructure. RFID chips are useful only when there are scanners capable of reading them.
'Imagine a guy on a beach in Thailand who wants to rent a surfboard,' theorizes Kristin. 'Is there, in your opinion, infrastructure for using such a technology?' 'It's not that there are no technical capabilities,' he adds. 'They exist, but their widespread implementation would cost a fortune.' In other words, it is the very digital supplements to cash that make the introduction of digital currencies so problematic.
So what do we have in the end? 'Until we have sufficient and reliable alternatives, only a fool would get rid of cash right now,' says David Wolman, author of the book 'The End of Money.' 'Honest people and law-abiding businesses still rely on it.'
Instead of swooning over the word 'cashless,' people should analyze the trends that are leading to the displacement of cash. Many of those who think about the future of cash like to quote Mark Twain's famous phrase: 'Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.' The authors of one report compared cash to Cinderella: 'It has no mom and dad to take care of it, only those awful stepsisters who try to convince Cinderella that she is ugly. But in reality, that is not the case.'
Cash remains with us, and will remain in the future, whether the advocates of Bitcoin and PayPal like it or not. On that same summer day in 2025, you might drive to work in a driverless car or appear in the office as a hologram. You might even go a whole day without touching a paper banknote. But most likely, you will have a few bills and coins stashed somewhere, just in case. And rest assured: somewhere in the world, someone is pulling cash out of their pocket to buy something.