Cash as they say, is king. However this colloquialism has been the focus of debate over recent years.

Increased ease of use of electronic and card based payment methods, couple with national level lockdowns appears to have hastened the decline of the use of cash by the public. In 2018 card based payments overtook cash as the leading spending method in the UK.

Not surprising, think of how much you actually use cash now in a retail setting? Personally I think I’ve paid in cash twice in the past 7 months.

Rumours of the death of cash may be somewhat exaggerated though. Consumers will always enjoy the anonymity that cash provides, something that electronic systems simply cannot cater to.

It will be interesting to see what risks a cashless society not only eliminates, but also creates. You can’t stuff your virtual identity under the mattress.