Drumbeats for the cashless society

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I do not believe humans will ever diverge from gold.

It was tried, in spades, doubled, in China. "Vermilion money" <-- use it or suffer the penalty of death by slow skinning... it did not prevent its quick failure.

You are reading this. You gots PMs. You know that there have been gummint schemes worldwide over all of human where "leaders" in history have tried every fargin angle... and NOTHING replaces gold. Nothing.
 

And so we pay: more digital and faster, with cash still in play

The use of cashless payments continues to increase. In particular, the use of credit transfers and e-money has grown, especially in emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs). Fast payments are gaining further ground and a key driver of the growing use of credit transfers in many EMDEs...
www.bis.org
 

Planned blackouts are becoming more common − and not having cash on hand could cost you

Public safety shutoffs are becoming routine in fire-prone areas. But when the grid goes down, so do digital transactions.
theconversation.com


.

"Are you prepared for when the power goes out? To prevent massive wildfires in drought-prone, high-wind areas, electrical companies have begun preemptively shutting off electricity. These planned shutdowns are called public safety power shutoffs, abbreviated to PSPS, and they’re increasingly common. So far this year, we’ve seen them in Texas, New Mexico and California.


Unlike regular power failures, which on average last only about two hours while a piece of broken equipment is repaired, a PSPS lasts until weather conditions improve, which could be days. And these shutoffs come at a steep price. In 2010 alone, they cost California over US$13 billion. A 2019 analysis of shutoffs in Placer County, California, found that they harmed 70% of local businesses.


I am a business school professor who studies how people pay for things, including during emergencies. As I point out in my new book “The Power of Cash: Why Using Paper Money is Good for You and Society,” many people have abandoned paper money and switched to electronic payments such as credit cards and mobile apps. This can become a big problem during an emergency..."
 
This post may contain affiliate links for which PM Bug gold and silver discussion forum may be compensated.
I've been thru a few hurricanes where power was out a few days but stores were only taking cash as the, machines were still down, a couple thousand in small bills was nice.
 
*Notes: There is already a thread on self-checkout. You can find it here ( https://www.pmbug.com/threads/state...r-using-self-checkout.5156/page-2#post-121104 .) This is more or less related to a cashless society. See this more and more at different places. No cash, not even a card. Just a transfer of electronic digits.

Sam's Club announces major shakeup with new AI system coming to all 600 stores​

Sam’s Club announced a major shakeup, revealing that all 600 stores will no longer have self-checkout machines. The move comes as the company plans a huge expansion project with new stores opening rapidly nationwide.

Instead of self-checkouts, it will be trialing a new system. The members-only retailer will swap out self-checkouts in favor of Scan & Go.

Scan & Go allows customers to stroll through the store's aisles, scanning their own items while they shop, and then using their phones to pay and exit the store. Essentially, shoppers scan their items one by one as they shop and only need to pay at the end, avoiding the usual rigmarole.

More:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/com...S&cvid=0a65a385b78347f893ddfc910c9a71ba&ei=24
 
Last time I was at Sam's, they had replaced the Receipt checkers with a giant arch way you walked under to exit the store. A lady stationed there stated that it checked the cart.
 
Sure.

Convenient.

Until your Stoopiddphone is hacked.

AND until they put the algos in. People aren't going to be eating at trendy joints served by smiling neat mine-ore-itties, unless they're high up on the Dumbo Crack food chain.

I really do hope that Russia drops a dozen nukes. Because this modern Woked-up Clown World, is just destroying my mind.
 
pmbug said:
Don't worry... Small town cops are on standby to confiscate and prosecute any large bundles of cash they find.
Click to expand...
If only it were limited to large bundles of cash.

Searched online for average amount seized in cash forfeitures.

The average amount of cash forfeited in civil asset forfeiture cases is typically quite small, often less than $1,000. In fact, some studies show that the median forfeiture in many states is even lower, sometimes under $400. For example, one study found that the median forfeiture in Michigan was $423 and in Pennsylvania, it was $369.
 
Spain is apparently on board with the BIS, ECB, EU push to implement a CBDC.
 
Posted in the crypto trading and market thread but definitely related to a cashless society.

Post in thread '2025 crypto trading and market thread'

Dubai To Enable Cryptocurrency Payments for Government Fees​

The Department of Finance in Dubai Government (DOF) has partnered with cryptocurrency trading platform Crypto.com to enable the payment of government service fees using cryptocurrencies.

The signing took place on the sidelines of DOF and Crypto.com's participation in the Dubai FinTech Summit at the Dubai International Financial Centre.

The partnership supports the implementation of the Dubai Cashless Strategy by enabling secure, efficient and inclusive financial transactions through cryptocurrencies. It also paves the way...
 
Definitely related.

Man’s Entire 401(k) Stolen When They Sent Him A Check​

Jun 1, 2025
And someone else cashed it.

11:50
 
11C1P said:
In GB, you apparently now need "good reasons" to have access to actual physical cash. Coming here soon, I'm sure.


Click to expand...
It's called a "police state."

And, why? Notice the "English" "banker" working that phone. That's a clue - where they are and where they're going.

What happens after this? After he finds out that law and the courts have no interest in such a situation (which to them, now, is not a "problem") people realize that to HAVE money, they cannot BANK money.

Next comes outlawing of paper currency, and MOAR "capital controls."

What follows? Violent revolution SHOULD follow. I doubt it will - what follows is the former England sliding into Soviet-level prosperity. Long lines, filthy food and not enough, and only the Elites can afford to buy things like motorbikes.
 
Fatrat said:
Hookers and Blow still a good reason, Bankers should understand...
Click to expand...
That's why I say that CBDCs will fail - spectacularly.

They'll cause immeasurable damage in the process, but they won't work. Hookers. Blow. Babysitters. Bums begging. Friends needing ten bucks for gas to get home.

Angry people who NEED meat (or whatever they next will decide the Little People don't need, maybe milk?) but they can't BUY it. Frankly, I can see supermarket cashiers shot, managers lynched, Safeways burned to the ground. Food is PERSONAL. When the crops fail and there's nothing to be had, well, famines and resulting starvation are generally quiet things. But when there's a huge building full of food and that GD POLITICAL ALGORITHM says you cannot BUY it...it's mixed-martial-arts time. Fat illegal-immigrant clerk at Trader Joe's, meet enraged 230-pound former-steelworker, now, Uber-driver.

But the Left cannot learn. Their ideology is set in concrete; they cannot update it, they cannot deviate from it. They're stupid that way - and this will be one of the points that lead to their undoing.
 
searcher said:
This would not be good
Click to expand...
Nor will CBDCs be good.

Picture, will you - that damn government-computer with AI that replaced the cash register. Telling you you cannot have Snackbites, because of your last physical exam by the government physician, and you cannot have the ground beef, because you're a Level Three Consumer and you've exceeded your monthly meat consumption for your level.

You don't think people will go for the jugular, or their holster? Or pull out a bang-stick, a zip-gun, or a utility knife? I know I sure would. NO MATTER the consequences - because already the consequences are, malnutrition enforced by government, because I've been forced into a lower social class.

Bon apitit.
 

Unfortunately I have to agree with you.

Many moons ago I was talking to someone who told me that gas jockeys (peeps who fill your car up) would not be needed in the not too distant future. That has come to pass. Now you have money takers and in some cases no one at all. It's all plastic. And it's all over the place.

In another thread peeps are talking about using gold in a collapse. I really don't see a collapse coming but I do see a time coming when there could be a total control society. Maybe one in which you'll buy and sell with a digital currency. You could still own gold but it wouldn't be accepted as a medium of exchange where private citizens are concerned. Governments could use it just not your average Joe.

I realize that a lot of states are now passing laws to make PMs legal tender (https://www.pmbug.com/threads/individual-us-states-push-for-gold-and-silver-legalization.469/page-9) and I think that's a good thing. But that could change in a heart beat. Lotta governments working on CBDCs. You also have the IMF, BIS and other agencies working with the governments towards this crap.

Then we have AI coming on strong along with a surveillance state stuff all over the globe. In my opinion it's all a harbinger of a dystopian future for most of mankind.

I honestly hope I'm wrong but everything I see points to this. And most people will go along to get along.

jm2c (fwiw)
 
Not to argue, exactly, but your gas-pumping analogy doesn't completely cover it.

Now I have a lot of experience with this - because of ethanol in gasoline.

Out here, Montana in general, ethanol-free is available everywhere. Higher price, of course - but it's there. Reason being, outboards, four-wheelers, snowmobiles, all don't like ethanol-corrupted gas. To where they refuse to run. Often where it's hundreds of miles to the nearest main highway, and often far from any cell tower.

AND...the state, and Forest Service, can't have THEIR equipment not run. Often it will sit for months, and then be needed RIGHT NOW. That's fine with gasoline. That's very-unlikely with ethanol.

So...we get ethanol.

BUT. My county, lousy with Californicators, has a law PROHIBITING the pumping of non-ethanol gasoline into autos or trucks. Motorcycles, fine. Lawn mowers, fine. ATVs, fine. But pump it into your car and you, AND THE STATION, are subject to hefty fines.

It goes without saying, ethanol-free is better. Ethanol corrodes the gas tank, the fuel lines, the pumps, the fuel-injection manifold, and injectors. Straight gas means, no problems for the life of the car.

So I use ethanol. But SEVERAL times I'd had the cashier turn off the pump from the window - even though I paid with a card - when she saw where her noxious pure gas was going. As things are now, I drive to a convenience store over the county line, or else just fill up two 5-gallon jerry cans at the local station.

Wait until we go to CBDCs, and I have to declare which fuel I'm buying, to the algo.
 
Ethanol if fine for fuel systems designed for it. Actually can keep some engine parts cleaner, less carbon build up.

And higher octane for those wanting more horsepower.
 
Uh...no.

To get further off-topic...

Ethanol absorbs water like a sponge. Out of the atmosphere. Moisture that is gonna even be present in a gas tank. If it isn't used up/replaced by fresh in the space of about two weeks, you got problems.

Sludge forms in the bottom - corrosive, non-combustible, ruins precision parts in fuel systems.

Now, lets get this CBDC train back on the tracks...
 

Rethinking Sweden’s cashless society: An offline e-cash option is needed​

The Ukraine-Russia War has shaken up the world in many ways. For the Nordic countries, two of which share borders with Russia (Finland and Norway), a military invasion is no longer unthinkable. For Sweden, it may also be prompting second thoughts about its “cashless society.”

According to a recent report in The Guardian, Sweden is worried about hybrid warfare attacks from Russia, including cyberwarfare. This can take down critical infrastructure like power grids on which digital payment networks depend. The Swedish government has even advised its citizens to put aside some “cash” — just in case.

“Nordics are walking back the cashless society initiative because their centralized implementation of the concept is too fragile. Cash turns out necessary as a backup,” Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin posted on May 25, referencing The Guardian story.

More:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/technolog...option-is-needed/ar-AA1GQYyE?ocid=socialshare
 

Prepaid Cards Propel Japan Toward Cashless Society, Boosted by E-commerce Boom​

Japan's prepaid card and digital wallet market is thriving with a forecasted growth rate of 10.7% annually, reaching $227.19 billion in 2025. Driven by government cashless initiatives, e-commerce expansion, and digital integration, this sector will shape Japan's financial ecosystem.

Japanese Prepaid Card and Digital Wallet Market

Dublin, June 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Japan Prepaid Card and Digital Wallet Market Intelligence and Future Growth Dynamics Databook - Q2 2025 Update" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The prepaid card and digital wallet market in Japan is set for substantial growth, projected to expand by 10.7% annually, reaching US$ 227.19 billion by 2025. This growth follows a robust performance from 2020 to 2024, marked by a CAGR of 12.4%, and is anticipated to continue at a CAGR of 9.3% from 2025 to 2029, potentially elevating the market to US$ 324.49 billion by the end of 2029.

More:

 

Post in thread 'CBDCs = TOFO (Tools of Financial Oppression)'

Came across this by accident. It's a very simple look at CBDCs and how screwed up they are. Since most regulars already know this so I'm posting for any guests, lurkers and newbies who may not. 13 mins long.

The End Of Cash? What Happens If Money Goes Fully Digital?​

Jul 2, 2025
A fully cashless future might be closer than you think. Well, you might think that credit cards and online payments have already disrupted the cash usage to some extent, but what if I tell you that cash would disappear almost completely?

 
Cash - when you need it, you really need it.
 
pmbug said:
Cash - when you need it, you really need it.
Click to expand...
Yah.

While it's losing...what? Twenty-five percent of its purchasing power?...losing that every year, say.

Have a hot $5000 under the mattress, waiting for Armageddon or personal chaos...but each year I need to up it a percentage. Ten years ago, $1500 was fine. Have to add another grand next year, and another twenty percent or so each year.

That's close to $100 a month, added cost of living. Used to be, insurance was cheaper.
 
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