Cashless Society: Post COVID-19 World

Whenever we step out of the house, we always carry a smartphone, some keys, and cash or credit card. But the split between cash and credit card is increasing day-by-day. Cash was the long king here but more and more people are switching to credit and debit cards, especially post the breakdown of the Novel Coronavirus.

Everyone now prefers contactless communication and hence the card is gaining more and more share in the market. Some people preferred cash transactions, as it gives a better idea of one’s spending. But, even those people are shifting to cashless transactions. Even banks have started turning their backs on cash transactions. They don’t even have any brick and mortar branches or even ATMs. We all know the upsides of payments using cards but, what we don’t understand is that by doing, so we are giving away our data i.e. we are paying with our data.

A former Interpol chief says

In many countries: Sweden, Norway, Finland, cash has become a thing of the past! From general stores to malls and even street vendors, every transaction carried out is cashless in these countries. They don’t even have cash till. Well, no cash, on the one hand, means nothing to worry about it also means that anyone with no card cannot purchase anything with cash as shopkeepers don’t accept cash.

Payments with smartphones are booming, especially with the younger generation. Sending money from one mobile to another is as easy as sending a text message or an email but the only catch is, you should have money in your bank account!

With money being used as digital information, it also means that the application through which payment is carried out can easily track persons’ financial transactions, scary, isn’t it? This feature could be used by parents to monitor the child’s spending behavior it also means that a third person can also keep a tab on you!

A study suggests that after the coronavirus crisis the number of people using cards for transactions has increased by twenty-six percent. Even though with cashless transaction transparency increases in the system but with the data of each user unprotected it could also lead to something very serious!