To pay for a baguette or at the market, cash is a reflex. To repay his loved ones, too. But that could change. Launched in France on September 30, the European Wero service is starting a small revolution in the field. This payment solution created by 14 major banks will allow individuals to make instant transfers completely free. An option so practical that it is already requested on 6% of transfers. But until now users had to pay to benefit from it. Enough to make cash redundant?
The solution proposed by Wero is undeniably in tune with the times. More and more Europeans are turning away from cash. Only 20% of expenses are now paid in notes or coins, compared to 34% in 2012, underlines a study from the Banque de France at the end of 2023. The bank card has established itself as the “central” means of payment for everyday expenses. The French thus paid “more than 69% of their expenses” at points of sale in “scriptural currency” – understandably, without using cash.
The arrival of new payment technologies such as instant transfers developed by fintech or bank consortiums, mobile payments or even cryptoassets are making cash increasingly irrelevant. Covid has also raised the threat of a risk of contamination by banknotes and coins. During the pandemic, cash withdrawals decreased by 40%, and some businesses simply no longer accepted cash. A life without cash would undoubtedly not displease the youngest sections of the population. A study of CSA Research published in March 2024 indicates that only 34% of 18-25 year olds withdraw money once a week. Only 17% use cash to send money to loved ones, most preferring to use bank transfers or more modern solutions.
“For around two centuries, the history of payment instruments has been moving in the direction of dematerialization,” analyzes economist Jézabel Couppey-Soubeyran, author of Power of money. As an example, she uses banknotes, one of the first forms of bank money, which have a monetary value unrelated to their intrinsic value – a banknote only costs a few cents to produce – unlike metallic gold money. or money that they replaced. Then came checks, bank cards and transfers, which convey scriptural money in an increasingly immaterial way. “The disappearance of cash goes in this direction, underlines the expert. Seeing the disappearance of cash is not seeing the disappearance of money, but only one of these forms.” Although cash is still used in almost half of transactions between individuals, it only represents 10% of the total money supply. “90% of money circulates in written form, with instruments such as checks or bank cards,” explains the economist.
The fantasy of a life without cash
“Cash is medieval, not efficient and it fuels the black market,” argues Vincent, a computer scientist who imagines a world without cash on his site Marianne 2025. Dematerialization could also bring more security at certain levels: without cash, for example, there would be fewer robberies. In Denmark, a country where more than 80% of purchases are made by card, there has not been a single bank attack in 2022 – around twenty years earlier, there were more than 200.
Living without cash is becoming easier and easier. It is thus possible to pay for your shopping in large stores by Carte Bleue, but also in a growing number of small markets, where certain sellers are equipped with electronic payment terminals (TPE). In restaurants, they now display an option to add a tip when paying for your drinks. Street artists in England leave since 2018 passers-by make donations to them with their bank cards. In China, homeless people are equipped with applications and QR Codes that allow them to pay money without having coins at hand.
Let us not forget, finally, the development of cryptocurrencies. These virtual currencies, of which bitcoin is the best-known example, are alternative payment solutions, which do not depend on central banks. They are issued on blockchains, a sort of immense network shared and consultable by everyone, where individuals can exchange them with each other. Criticized for their energy consumption and their high volatility, they are nonetheless used more and more by the general public. Thousands of businesses around the world accept bitcoin payments. A Brussels MP received his salary for a year in this cryptocurrency, and El Salvador has even made it its official currency, like the dollar. Over the first half of 2024, on average, 14.5 million transactions per month were carried out on the bitcoin network.
Another revolution is brewing in payment technologies: central bank digital currencies (CBNC). Different from scriptural currencies, coming from retail banks, they come directly from central banks, and operate by “tokenization”, in a similar way to cryptocurrencies. But, unlike the latter, MNBCs are issued in a closed circle by a central institution, which decides on their valuation, and which always acts as a security third party for payments.
E-yuan and digital euro
China was the first country to large-scale test its digital currency, the “e-yuan”, in 2020, and according to the Central Bank, nearly 120 million digital wallets have been opened since then. Use would be growing: in July 2023, e-yuan transactions represented 1.8 trillion yuan, compared to 100 billion a year earlier. A great surge, which must nevertheless be put into perspective: the total number of e-yuans in circulation represents only 0.16% of the mass of cash in China.
In Europe, the digital euro project has been led by the European Central Bank since 2021 and it is still in development, with no launch date announced. If its contours remain rather vague, the institution insisted on the fact that the digital euro was not intended to replace cash, but to exist alongside it – for purchases on the Internet or via payment applications .
The digital euro, for its part, “will provide a digital means of payment which, like cash, unites us because it can be used by everyone, everywhere”, had pleaded Fabio Panetta, from the executive committee of the European Central Bank (ECB), last September. As Europeans’ payment cards are not always accepted in shops in Member States, the digital euro could simplify their lives when they travel. It would even help the application of economic policies — particularly during financial crises. “Central banks could carry out ‘helicopter money’ operations, assures Jézabel Couppey-Soubeyran. Instead of going through purchases of securities on the financial markets which cause bubbles, they would pay a certain sum directly into each account in euros, which would revive economic activity more quickly and more strongly, while avoiding these harmful effects.”
Cash has not said its last word
However, the digital euro project is not yet set in stone. The ECB will issue an opinion on this subject in October 2025, at the end of a research phase. And, if it is validated, the digital euro will only see the light of day once the legislative and legal framework is in place. It is not unanimous. Banks view it with skepticism, fearing that its creation will lead to a flight of capital to the ECB. This has already agreed on several limitations in order to reassure them. It will not be possible to have more than 3,000 digital euros in your wallet, and the accounts will potentially be hosted by partner banks.
But the strongest opposition to the disappearance of cash undoubtedly comes from citizens. According to an Ifop survey published in March of this year, 83% of French people are worried about the idea of cash disappearing, even those who hardly use it anymore. “Among the reasons given, we find the loss of confidentiality, the risk of increasing inequalities, the deterioration of social interactions, or even the decline in solidarity,” indicates the study.
The question of privacy is essential, confirms Faustine Fleuret, president of Adan, the association bringing together Web3 and cryptocurrency companies. “There are negative biases on cash, because it is used by the underground economy. But cash is also important for many Europeans who have nothing to reproach themselves for, and who want to keep a means of payment preserving their confidentiality.” The ECB may claim to want to guarantee a high degree of confidentiality to users – who would always be protected by banking secrecy – but fears are difficult to quell. And some citizens fear that surveillance worthy of science fiction dystopias will be put in place through this means.
Let them rest assured. According to economist Michel Ruimy, “the share of cash in means of payment will continue to fall, but it will never completely disappear”. It will always be easier to give your children a few coins than to open an account for them. Cryptocurrencies are not yet accepted everywhere. And the digital euro will not necessarily be useful to people prohibited from banking. Computer bugs, like the outage experienced by CrowdStrike, also remind us of certain fragilities in the digital world, points out the expert: “If a bug of this type is repeated or if a large-scale Internet outage affects the entire world, it will will need cash.”
.