For those in the US worried about cash "disappearing", see this legislation recently introduced in the House [1]. It specifically counters the problems of crypt

For those in the US worried about cash "disappearing", see this legislation recently introduced in the House [1]. It specifically counters the problems of crypto-currencies (the excess energy requirements, the transaction processing speed, etc) while providing the same guarantees as physical notes and coins and for settlement of public/private debts. For those outside the US that are nout (hide-)bound by the US's antiquated banking system, cashless/contactless credit and debit processing has dramatically reduced physical cash usage everywhere. Physical cash (notes/coins) is likely to mostly die out over this century. The issues raised about anonymity and traceability etc are solvable with appropriate legislation, regulation, and design. First, there was a mandate for Chip+PIN (not signature) from the various payment networks/processors. The EMV standards for this dramatically reduced fraud and the transfer of risk from the merchant to the network reduced costs. Second, in many countries (I'm in Australia), interchange fees are regulated and capped, while costs for processing card transactions must be separate and advertised to consumers and also limited. Third, the introduction of contactless EMV, along with high "floor limits" (AUD200 in Australia's case) means that for the majority of transactions, there is no physical interaction required. Fourth, most countries not only have the two primary payment networks (ie Visa/MC) but also have a third network, usually sponsored by the local monetary authority and/or local banks, for debit transactions tied to bank accounts (EFTPOS network in Australia). Fifth, in EU, Australia, and other places, there are now "instant payment" networks, with direct settlement between accounts at the monetary authority's accounts. (New Payments Platform/Osko/PayID in Australia) [2] [1] https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7231?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22H.R.+7231%22%2C%22H.R.%22%2C%227231%22%5D%7D&s=7&r=1 https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7231... [2] https://nppa.com.au/ https://nppa.com.au/