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Swedes Turn Against Cashlessness (theguardian.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: It is hard to argue that you cannot trust the government when the government isn't really all that bad. This is the problem facing the small but growing number of Swedes anxious about their country's rush to embrace a cash-free society. Most consumers already say they manage without cash altogether, while shops and cafes increasingly refuse to accept notes and coins because of the costs and risk involved. Until recently, however, it has been hard for critics to find a hearing. "The Swedish government is a rather nice one, we have been lucky enough to have mostly nice ones for the past 100 years," says Christian Engstrom, a former MEP for the Pirate Party and an early opponent of the cashless economy. "In other countries there is much more awareness that you cannot trust the government all the time. In Sweden it is hard to get people mobilized."
There are signs this might be changing. In February, the head of Sweden's central bank warned that Sweden could soon face a situation where all payments were controlled by private sector banks. The Riksbank governor, Stefan Ingves, called for new legislation to secure public control over the payments system, arguing that being able to make and receive payments is a "collective good" like defense, the courts, or public statistics. "Most citizens would feel uncomfortable to surrender these social functions to private companies," he said. "It should be obvious that Sweden's preparedness would be weakened if, in a serious crisis or war, we had not decided in advance how households and companies would pay for fuel, supplies and other necessities." The report mentions a recently-released opinion poll, which found that seven out of 10 Swedes wanted to keep the option to use cash, while just 25% wanted a completely cashless society.
There are signs this might be changing. In February, the head of Sweden's central bank warned that Sweden could soon face a situation where all payments were controlled by private sector banks. The Riksbank governor, Stefan Ingves, called for new legislation to secure public control over the payments system, arguing that being able to make and receive payments is a "collective good" like defense, the courts, or public statistics. "Most citizens would feel uncomfortable to surrender these social functions to private companies," he said. "It should be obvious that Sweden's preparedness would be weakened if, in a serious crisis or war, we had not decided in advance how households and companies would pay for fuel, supplies and other necessities." The report mentions a recently-released opinion poll, which found that seven out of 10 Swedes wanted to keep the option to use cash, while just 25% wanted a completely cashless society.
I can just wave my phone? Do I have to flip it open, or can I leave it shut?
I have no idea how it works in Sweden, but in China you use an app to scan the merchants QR-code, and then enter a 6 digit PIN and/or use finger/face ID to confirm the transaction. It typically takes about two seconds. I set up my phone to use fingerprint only for transactions under 100CNY ($15 USD) and require both PIN and fingerprint for larger amounts.
And how do I pay to refill the phone with the phone?
You can top-up your balance by linking your WeChat or AliPay app to your bank account. This requires an additional bank PIN. Or, if you don't have a Chinese bank account, you can ask a friend to send you a "hong bao" peer-to-peer transfer.
Of course the Chinese are going to have a system in place to track everything you do.
They already have that and there is no secret about it. I was just there to get my job done, so I go along with the system, obey the law, and keep out of trouble. They certainly aren't going to change their policies because I object. As an American, it is not my job to "fix" China.
Cash doesn't have to be paper. An electronic unit with a battery that can hold an electronic counter can function perfectly as an electronic version of cash, without involving banks and going through bank transactions each time.
It seems this option is totally ignored by everyone though.
Cash if FAR cheaper. Having to accept credit cards entails a hefty surcharge by the credit card company
I was in China for two months last fall, witnessed thousands of cashless transactions, and this is how many times I saw anyone use a credit card: 0.
Cashless payments ARE NOT BASED ON CREDIT CARDS.
as well as a delay in getting paid,
WeChat and AliPay are instant transfers.
... and the additional risk of credit card fraud.
Credit card fraud is an AMERICAN problem. In other countries I can't spend your money just by providing semi-public information. Only Americans believe that is "the way it is supposed to be".
While a debit card is faster and cheaper it still involves network fees and equipment rental and service.
Equipment needed to accept cashless payments in China: A sticker with a QR-code. Cost: 2 cents.
I'm Swedish. We use chipped cards a lot. But here, they work properly.
What moved us towards cashlessness though was "Swish", an app for instant money transfer between any two users, regardless of which banks they have. iZettle is also pretty common in small businesses; it's a chip card reader that connects to an ordinary smartphone or tablet.
This shift was rapid. Three years ago I had 55000 sek (about 6500 us$) in cash to deposit after the annual skydiving boogie our club arranges. Last year there wasn't enough cash to pay back account balances.
How does a tourist pay for anything?
But wait....my phone was stolen, lost, or broken...now what? Go get another phone, but how do I pay for THAT?
Or I'm only there for 2 days and a night, I don't need a phone to do what I need. Is there something else that can do the electronic transfer that isn't a phone (and should be super cheap)?
I forget my wallet with cash and stuff all the time...or leave it behind for safety)...no problem, stop by a bank branch and get some cash for a day or two (or at least dinner).
Having only 1 way to do anything is a recipe for disaster.
As a Swede living in Sweden.
His perception hasn't even scratched the surface of the real change.
The coming 10-30 years in Sweden will be a cautionary tale for everyone.
And on many currencies it doesn't say "good for debts public and private". I checked the law for the Netherlands (Euro zone, unlike Sweden) some time ago. Here: "legal tender" mostly means means that you're not allowed to copy it. There is no rule that someone has to accept banknotes or coins even for settling a debt. Try paying your phone bill using one-cent coins... many smaller (MVNO) providers don't even have a physical store.
Avantslash: low-bandwidth mobile slashdot.
How does the phone/bank/whoever know the amount I want to pay?
At many shops, the price is embedded in a QR-code that appears on a LCD screen. You just scan it and tap to confirm. At low end shops, such as street stalls without electricity, there is a fixed QR-code sticker and the vendor just tells you the price. You key it in and tap your fingerprint to authorize.
I guess the shop needs a networked computer of some sorts after all, right?
No. In theory, the merchant can just look at your phone to see that the transaction completed. In practice, they will usually also have their cell phone which will display the completed transaction. Everything is cell phone based, and there is no wired network, nor even a need for electricity other than your cell battery.
It's important to differentiate the form of coinage from the backing medium. Coinage often has little or no intrinsic value. This is especially true of paper promissory notes, which cost a tiny fraction of their face value to produce and have few other possible uses (uncomfortable toilet paper, really tacky wallpaper, or a convenient object for arranging your cocaine in lines). Currencies are typically backed by some promise from an organisation to exchange them for something else. For example, the one Pound Sterling could originally be redeemed for one pound of sterling silver. Most modern currencies are established by fiat: a law requires that they can be used to settle any debt, including taxes, so their value is based on the number of people who have debts that can be settled by the currency.
A crypto currency simply provides an implementation mechanism that allows you to maintain a ledger recording transactions without a single central point of failure. This would address the concerns in TFA, where people are worried that if, for example, the Russians invaded they'd be able to shut down all commerce in a region by flipping a few config options in a computer.
Most crypto currencies have difficulties replacing real-world currency uses because they are entirely decoupled from any store of value in the real world. Ideally (gross oversimplifications follow), the monetary supply should reflect the economy. When more value is created in the economy, more money should be created to represent it. When value is removed from the economy, the money supply should contract by a corresponding amount. The money supply should expand slightly faster than the economy so that holding money is discouraged as a means of holding value (you want people to invest in things that improve productivity, not keep piles of cash under their bed).
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The US could literally print $20 trillion dollars in $100 bills and pay off their bond holders as they fall due. Of course, this would cause inflation to shoot up, but the debt would be paid.