The Bank of Canada runs two ‘Cash Alternative Surveys’ in April and August each year of a representative sample of 2,500–3,500 Canadians. It combines this with data from its Bank Note Distribution System to monitor the use of cash.

A new IMF paper concludes that the main influence on the demand for cash, and why demand is falling, seems to lie in the demand preferences of changing population structures. If CBDCs are issued, the demand for cash may continue to fall, but the demand for card usage may fall by even more.

Money has a public and a private role touch on financial obligations, authority and credit. But what happens when bank accounts, credit and debit cards and even cash are disrupted by war?

A recent post highlighted how misleading the constant stream of headlines about a cashless society is. Going cashless makes for wonderfully shocking, attention-grabbing headlines.

Finance.ua, a Ukrainian financial media organisation, posted cash usage rates for Europe in 2019 based on Statista data and then compared it with a smaller selection of countries in 2020 and then 2021.

A recent post highlighted how misleading the constant stream of headlines about a cashless society is. Going cashless makes for wonderfully shocking, attention-grabbing headlines.

A recent webinar organised by Enryo, an independent consultancy, invited four experts to consider digital inclusion. Speakers addressed how to overcome the very real problem of proving identity and what needs to be done to accelerate digital inclusion.

While cash transactions in Japan have been declining for some time, albeit from a high base, the reduction in opportunities to pay in cash and the increased use of ‘stay at home consumption’ during the pandemic has accelerated this decline. At the same time the ratio of banknotes to GDP has risen very significantly.

The Bank of Canada wanted to understand the impact on cash withdrawals if people had to pay more to access cash. Staff working paper 202128 considers this question.

A paper by the Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF), ‘Cash: A Blessing or a Curse?’, examines what happened in Mexico when changes to cash availability were made.