A new study out of Sweden says the tiny country is on course to become the world's first "cashless society," thanks in part to a mobile payment app called Swish.
The Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm released a statement in October quoting researcher Niklas Arvidsson, who said cash is an important means of payment in many countries, "... but that no longer applies here in Sweden."
Arvidsson and his team of researchers said there are about 80 billion Swedish crowns in regular circulation, down from 106 billion six years ago. "And out of that amount, only somewhere between 40 and 60 percent is actually in regular circulation. ... Our use of cash is small, and it is decreasing rapidly."
Swish has more than 3.5 million users (of Sweden's total population of 9.5 million) and nearly 4.5 billion Swedish crowns were "Swished" in October.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 10 2015, @02:37PM
Only until cash dies, along with privacy.
(Score: 2) by SanityCheck on Tuesday November 10 2015, @02:57PM
Well unless things change, soon enough common people will have absolutely no money, physical or otherwise, and will likely resort to combination of theft and barter.
Of course the term theft is very loose here, as wealthy land owners might consider it theft for you to grow subsistence on "their" land.
Either way you will have a cashless society.