In 2021 I spent two months in the capital of Ukraine. I was there because of a girl (duh), and she was constantly making fun of me and laughing at my refusal to use Apple Pay.
She’d pay for everything and anything with her iPhone, from a $1 coffee to the $100 AirBnB.
Whereas I, a strong cash supporter, would settle any bill, big or small, with greasy banknotes.
The thing is, even before crypto, I never liked banks. And I’ve always known I can never trust my government.
I was born and raised in a cash-centric economy where people’s first, second and last stance on any innovative form of cashless payment is always ‘no, thanks.’
This, by the way, is part of the reason why I’m not worried about a cashless society.
For as long as I’ve been alive (that’s a different conversation), my homeland’s take on cashless payments has never changed.
It’s still ‘no, fcuk you and your credit card’.
But I digress.
The point is, these days I use a hybrid system that certainly works for me.
Because I’m a crypto ‘bro’, my wallet is a festival of crypto debit cards, most of which offer some form of cashback in crypto.
So I use them. However, my wallet is also always equipped with bills in two currencies, the Euro, and the native token, pardon me I mean FIAT currency, of the non EU country I currently live in.
And I use those too.
And it works a treat.
Of all the countries I’ve visited since Covid (which is when the push for cashless payments really got stronger) the only place I detected an open, blatant disdain for cash is the UK.
But that was the exception. Everywhere else was every bit as cash friendly as it was Apple Pay friendly.
Will more countries follow suit. Maybe. But even if it happens, the freedom that we assume cash can afford us will be replaced, and improved, by crypto.
I’ve said this before and I’m happy to say it again. Crypto is a game that plays by its own rules, and it will eventually bend regulators around it.
Not the other way around.
bitcoinea 
Leave a comment