A column in Yahoo! Finance is predicting a speedy discontinuation of the use of cash. I guess the term “speedy” is a relative term as I believe that data show a very slow decline in the use of cash, at least in the U.S. The author of the article also makes the point that the demise of cash will be largely in part due to the adoption of cryptocurrencies, specifically stablecoins. Here’s an excerpt:
Physical currency and hard cash may soon be a thing of the past, Eswar Prasad, Cornell University economics professor and author of “The Future of Money” told Yahoo Finance Live.
“The end of physical currency, cash, is certainly drawing near, and cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin (BTC-USD), have certainly paved the way for that revolution,” Prasad said.
But it is unlikely that cryptocurrencies will become the dominant form of payments in the future, Prasad says, because of their inherent volatility. Stablecoins like those pegged to fiat currencies, however, may become more widespread as the digital economy evolves.
“My own view is that cryptocurrencies may not ultimately prove to be viable mediums of exchange,” he said. “Especially the decentralized ones like crypto coins that have very volatile value and that have a number of other impediments. But they’ve already given rise to stablecoins, whose value is backed by reserves of hard currency, such as the U.S. dollar and U.S. dollar securities, which could provide more efficient payment transactions.”
Overview by Sarah Grotta, Director, Debit and Alternative Products Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
