Hello folks,
There's a lot of talk around the world about the introduction of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC's). One reason why CBDC's have become a popular talking point is the belief that they could possibly be used to replace physical cash – something on a lot of banks/government/regulators minds. The phasing out of physical cash was happening before Covid and the pandemic has only hastened it's demise.
So, with cash usage plummeting and the cost of processing physical cash mooning, there's a real concern that vulnerable individuals (e.g. disabled, those without access to certain technologies, etc) in society could be locked out of accessing local services because only electronic payment methods are accepted. Many major cities have seen an up-tick in businesses only accepting electronic payments which is causing regulators and law makers to look into the issue.
My concern here is that if the market doesn't come up with a decentralised solution which is compatible with a suitable regulatory framework then it's possible that governments and regulators choose to use a CBDC and the opportunity to create a non-government replacement to cash will be lost. I've done some research into solutions which the crypto space have proposed to replace physical cash and all I can find is fully electronic systems – basically wallets on smart phones. This doesn't necessary help vulnerable individuals nor does it maximise privacy.
So, my questions for you wonderful people are as follows:
- What do you think the requirements / features would be for a service which replaces psychical cash?
- Are there any decentralised / pseudo-anonomous services which have been developed to specifically replace psychical cash?
Many thanks,
S