Frictions of a Cashless Society
The demise of cash has been something we’ve written quite a bit about here in Thematic Signals, and that investment theme has played a significant role in several of our Tematica Investing Select List holdings that have produced strong returns for our subscribers.
Of course, there are always two sides of a coin — a reality we are seeing in Sweden which is the most “cashless society” in the world right now. This story in Bloomberg details the main issue:
“If this development with cash disappearing happens too fast, it can be difficult to maintain the infrastructure” for handling cash, said Mats Dillen, the head of the parliamentary review. He declined to give more details on the types of proposals that could be included in the report.Sweden is widely regarded as the most cashless society on the planet. Most of the country’s bank branches have stopped handling cash; many shops, museums and restaurants now only accept plastic or mobile payments. But there’s a downside, since many people, in particular the elderly, don’t have access to the digital society.“One may get into a negative spiral which can threaten the cash infrastructure,” Dillen said. “It’s those types of issues we are looking more closely at.”
Source: ‘No Cash’ Signs Everywhere Has Sweden Worried It’s Gone Too Far – Bloomberg
