Ask HN: To what extent have digital payments replaced cash in your country?

Since nobody's chimed in here from Germany yet:

Germany's broadly a hold-out. Particularly a lot of restaurants, bars and clubs are still cash-only, and some smaller shops definitely prefer cash. Used cars are, interestingly, almost always cash-only. Person to person transactions (i.e. buying something you pick up in person) are almost always cash. Open air markets (produce, flea markets) are always cash.

Electronic payments are becoming more accepted, but it's wise to almost always have some cash on hand.

Cash retains a certain appeal for privacy reasons, and, let's be honest, for businesses avoiding paying their taxes. I'm actually happy cash remains. I don't like the idea of everything I ever buy being recorded. I also don't mind when e.g. going out that I have to consciously get more cash from the ATM when I've blown through my evening budget.

This is in amusing contrast with my trip to Sweden last year, where I pulled out the equivalent of €100 for emergencies, and had trouble getting rid of it in the week and a half there since most places didn't seem to even take cash.

In the Netherlands; mostly haven't carried cash for 5-6 years now. Since Apple Pay was enabled here around 2019, the majority of my purchases are through the phone or watch. About once a year there will be some situation that requires cash, usually when traveling.

Even street vendors have debit/pin machines (Zettle/SumUp etc), and with mobile phones starting to be able to act as a receiver there would be no reason to use cash at all. I don't like the privacy implications but it's immensely practical.

For sending money to others, sharing bills etc you use Tikkie which generates a link or QR code that anyone can use to pay you via iDeal (debit).

Netherlands. Only carry cash because I received some as a gift at some point. Only place that I use my cash on is the local barbershop which only takes cash (probably avoids paying taxes that way).

I pay everything through contactless payments through my phone or my debit card barring that.

Some shops don't even take cash anymore because of how few of their customers paid in cash compared to how risky carrying that cash to the bank is. I'm not very happy with that development, but I can understand why they do it.

Some people prefer cash, some people prefer using their debit card (chip + PIN is generally very secure, of course!).

I didn't use cash for years in Russia, all about card payments and instant bank payments between people. Last year many of POS asking to pay via QR code to avoid card fee (2-3%).

Central Bank will test digital Ruble asset in the recent time, it's some sort of limited conversion currency, like you get a payment for child care and it's possible to use only for limited products to purchase.

Here in India, UPI payments are quite popular. I live in New Delhi the capital and never withdraw cash in my day to day life. The only instance where I have to withdraw cash is when I have to pay rent as my landlord accepts only cash to evade taxes. Apart from these barring very few, at least in cities everything works on digital payments.

Please note that card payments are not at all popular in India and UPI is the most common means of digital payment.

Edit: I meant card instead of cash

I'm surprised so many here seem to be fine with paying by credit card.

Isn't it causing you an uncomfortable feeling, that one company gets all the data about every single thing you buy?

And via this also everywhere you go and when you go there?

So you are a 100% "see through" person to Apple, Google and/or Visa?

Brazilian here, even beggars accept PIX, the national free electronic transfer system. You can use it to transfer to anyone else by their phone number or email, or to pay bills. Cash is getting less and less common.

I find it funny when crypto bros were claiming it was about "banking the unbanked", when it's not a problem at least in a third-world country in Brazil. Banks are obligated to open at least a very basic bank account for basically anyone.

Here in India, cashless payments through various proprietary and privacy harming platforms, such as PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm are popular among the city crowds and has become more common due to these elites pushing for it with street vendors. While these platforms use the UPI platform underneath (which is run by a consortium of public, private and foreign banks), most people don’t know about UPI IDs and instead use the linked phone numbers. “Google Pay me” or “Paytm me” is the “Venmo me” (of the U.S.) equivalent here.

There are tons of “fintech” companies backed by VCs, each trying to capture a chunk of the market with heavy competition. They sometimes partner with traditional banks to offer services.

Meanwhile, the linking of the so-called unique number given to residents (not just citizens), called “Aadhaar”, with bank accounts has resulted in more frauds and thefts through biometric scams (gummy fingers). The Aadhaar number as well as fingerprints are obtained from property registration documents, which are publicly exposed.

With UPI, there is a “payment request” mode too. Since digital literacy is extremely low in India, a lot of people have been losing money through various vishing and phishing scams. Getting the money back may also require greasing the palms of law enforcement.

As for me, I encourage people to use cash. I use a combination of cash and online payments. I carry all combinations of currency notes and coins to pay for any amount. I also have a rough idea of how much I’d need.

Whenever more people realize that the government is tracking their spends (including the push for a retail CBDC), they’ll start switching to cash mainly to evade taxes. So far though, most people have neither realized nor understood privacy concerns, give surveillance, etc. (I’m not blaming the poor and vulnerable sections, who already have a lot more to worry about)

The US Army Corps of Engineers no longer accepts cash for campsites they manage. The US Government no longer accepts its own currency. That's where we are in the USA at least.

UK. I haven't used or carried cash here for about 3 years. Other than a really inconvenient time someone gave me some for one of my kids and I had to pay it in.

Sweden. I can count on one hand how many times I’ve used cash in the last 5 years. Cash is extremely rarely used. For paying in stores, contactless cards or Apple/Google/Samsung pay are the most common payment methods by far. For paying people (such as splitting the cost of a meal at a restaurant) we use a service called Swish which is connected to your bank account and works similarly to Venmo or Zelle in the US. Swish can also be used for paying businesses. Some businesses such as food trucks have a QR code that you can scan to pay them.

Paying businesses can also be done by using services called Bankgiro and Plusgiro. These are done directly via your bank account and if done after 10 AM are processed the next business day.

Finland is virtually 100 % cashless. Open markets, grocery stores, restaurants, second-hand shops, flee markets, etc... — they all accept cards. I cannot recall a single place that didn't accept cards. They do accept cash too, though, but most people nowadays use cards.

I have been living in Athens for a few months now. Most brick-and-mortar places, if not all, accept cards but when you go to an open street market, it's cash-only. Also, if you buy something like tobacco, they only accept cash even though they have POS systems in place. It has something to do with the taxes (or circumventing them?).

Australia: almost all cashless. You only get some cash when you buy a used car, pay a tutor or something else like that.

The govt endgame seems to be forcing most of the cash out of circulation, a ban on cash purchases of more that $10000 (with some exceptions) is already in place.

https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-10/28454_fa...

I'm German, but in Bogota. Famously, Germany has a strong affinity to cash, credit cards have seen a slow adoption, and the cultural aversion to debt makes them still a bit "off", though they are accepted in the majority of places. More common are bank debit cards, but every business will accept cash. It's been historically common to pay for used cars in cash, out of a mix of spending limits on cards and a paranoia that this should be a transaction of equal immediacy.

In Bogota, well, much of the country is unbanked or underbanked. You can pay ANYTHING in cash through the ubiquitous "cash payment" officies (like Pagatodo). You give them a reference number the service gave you, and cash, and they mark your bill paid. This works for a five-dollar power bill, internet bill, evenfor as a thousand-dollar flight you booked online.

There's a paypal-like phone app, Nequi, that almost every colombian has as well, far more common than credir cards. While big stores and restaurants will accept cards, a small (and not licensed) street vendor will often have a QR code to pay by Nequi. This needs no special equipment and no special permits, apparently.

There are many signs "cash only", and many signs "cash and nequi, no cards", especially in small stores.

Nequi, however, is not available to foreigners, even to those who live in Colombia with permits. Cash is everywhere.

Australia here.

Most places still accept cash, but approximately no-one uses it. Store staff almost always assume tap-to-pay, and have to cancel the transaction if you pull out cash.

Bill payment is done with a pre-authorised debit transaction, credit cards, or using an Australia-only (I think?) system called BPay. Most utilities, etc, have a BPay number, and most (all?) bank apps and websites support BPay payments.

Person-to-person payments used to require entering bank (called BSB: bank, state, branch) and account codes, and took 2 days to transfer. In the last few years there's a new system (called PayID) that uses email or phone number identifiers, and offers instant settlement.

So ... basically anything legal is now done electronically.

During COVID, many stores stopped accepting cash, and some of those never started again. At this point, it's only a small proportion, but I imagine it will grow over the next few years.

I worked on a BBQ stall at my child's school fete recently. To take electronic payments, you had to go to a different designated stall and pay for tokens, and bring them back to the BBQ stall to exchange for food. I noticed that many people carried an "emergency" $20 or $50 tucked in their phone case, and broke it out rather than do the extra steps to get tokens.

I personally withdraw a few hundred dollars every few months: one of my favourite restaurants is cash-only (very rare!) and the farmers market vendors seem to prefer cash too. But that's about the only times I use it now.

Portugal:

P2P payments - MBWay, has taken over by storam and is the defacto method for transfering smaller amounts of money between peers. For example, rent can be payed to landlords via MBWay, cleaning lady, etc. ATMs support it to.

Almost every business allows payment with cards and the central bank is rumored to want to enforce digital payments for every business in the future.

Personally, I hardly use cash now, heck, I hardly use any cards now. I use my phone for almost all payments.

Here in Switzerland mostly very old people are using cash. Me personally, I pay always through my phone. I don't even use cards anymore. I have them all in my digital wallet. I've noticed recently a couple of Crypto ATMs. Not 100% sure how they work and who uses them, but the tilt is towards digital here. There are very few vendors left who don't accept anything but cash.

I'm in Taiwan. I have a bit of a hobby of checking out digital payment systems everywhere I go. I checked out Japan, Macau, Hong Kong, China, Germany, France, the UK, and obviously the US.

The thing that is the most glaring difference between the western countries and the east Asian ones is that in the US and Europe, there is an ultimate goal of try to force people to use e-payment systems to get some kind of regulatory benefit. Therefore people also constantly push back for fear of excess control, and the government tries to mandate it to force only digital payment.

The approach in the Asian countries seems to be the exact opposite. From mpay in Macau, to Suica/Pasmo/PayPay, 街口支付/easycard in Taiwan ....

Most of them had their origin in transit card system(China is different). But they then had a proliferation of QR code payment systems that competed with each other for dominance.

The difference between the east Asian approach and the western one is that the east Asian one never needed to try to ban cash to push for e-payment. It offers so much convenience and other benefits that people don't really think about it in those terms. Want to pay your parking bill? The license plate scanner is connected to the machine at the front. Is privacy compromised? For some parking lots yes, for others no, but the speed of processing is so much better than anything I've seen in Europe.

Nobody is talking about banning cash here or in those other societies, but many people will not use cash, because its too much of a hassle.

EDIT: I guess I don't know enough about the smaller EU states since someone below just mentioned MobilePay.dk

But regardless, there is a level of competition in those Asian e-payment systems that does not seem to exist in "the West"

USA: rarely use cash. Either p2p apps (zelle, Venmo, cash app, apple cash) for sending money to ppl or buying and selling used items.

Debit or credit cards for businesses. I keep a $20 on me plus a debit card w/ atm access and checking account that reimburses atm fees. Just for those super rare purposes that cash is needed. Although most of the time, I will just not buy from that merchant.

Puerto Rico (USA Territory) - Digital payments in the form of debit or credit cards are pretty much universal here, but most fast foods, small business and even semi-formal business (mom+pop) accept an app-based payment called ATH movil. This system is sponsored by the largest bank here (although it's not owned by them). This is so strong here that many businesses apologize when they can't accept it, and the smallest business only accept either cash or ATH móvil. Not all the local banks and credit unions support the system. So when you don't have cash and cannot use ATH móvil to pay, you might feel excluded from the local economy. In my opinion this bank is using the app to consolidate the oligopoly in the local market. Which is almost a monopoly because the other banks are insignificant to them (in size). Of course, they share the system with other tiny banks and credit unions, so you cannot claim monopoly. In addition, the system belongs to a company that they spun off a few years ago.

Russia: I've hardly used a cash since 2012. After 2022 I've fleed the country and It's painful to live when banks don't open an account. I'm not used to pay fees and commissions at every time when I need to transfer money or pay. It's so unusual for me because I used to tranfser money without any commission and fees and change money from one currency to the another online at MOEX exchange with only 0.05% fee. Now I pay at leat 1.5% when I convert to a local currency and above 2% when I need to transfer from one country to another with the fear to be frozen a transfer because of I'm originally from Russia.

I'm not trying to complain; I just want to say that I hate cash and love digital payments because I do not like to pay commissions and fees. I believe that in the EU banks also can offer such services but as I've read even EU citizens pay a big commissions and fees and not all banks offer an online banking.

Here in Paris (France), I always use my credit† card, for everything from a drink in a bar to groceries to burgers to whatever. Most of the time, I use the contactless feature of my plastic card (works for anything under 50€), and sometimes, using my phone using Google Play, which is linked to my card, but doesn't have the 50€ ceiling for regulatory reasons.

I used to carry some cash for my nearest automatic laundery machines, but even that one now features a contactless payment dongle, so it's nearly useless for me.

† I say "credit card", but most plastic card WE carry on France are actually debit card, i.e. there is no specific credit card balance to top or anything, it's directly withdrawned from your account. (There is something hybrid called "differed debit card", that mimic some of the credit card experience, but it's basically buffering your withdrawals, without any "true" credit happening).

Canada (Ottawa, ON): the only cash I deal with now is for the kids to learn about or for the odd farm stand. Most farm stands have gone to cashless as well.

Canada’s got the Interac system owned by the banks which has merchant fees lower than credit cards and also provides an electronic money transfer system (email or sms based) for the public.

Norway. More than 90% av all payments are done electronically, per 2021.[0]

[0] https://www.norges-bank.no/bankplassen/arkiv/2021/husholdnin...

Kazakhstan. I think that today most people use our local bank app which does payments using QR code. Some people use bank cards and some people use cash.

Few years ago most people used cash, so this is recent development.

Of course cash is accepted everywhere, it makes me feel uneasy that somewhere in the world digital just replaced cash. Everyone must accept cash by law, at least in ordinary shops.

Bank cards are not accepted everywhere, but in big cities you can expect to pay with bank card in a majority of cases.

Local bank app is accepted almost everywhere, its adoption is tremendous last years. I've yet to find a place which does not accept it.

Big purchases (cars, houses) are mostly done with cash I think, though I don't have statistics. I, myself, don't trust banks with more than few hundreds of bucks. It's convenient to pay for milk with smartphone, but that's about it.

Thailand. Cash is rarely used these days. Some shops/restaurants have stopped accepting cash. I sometimes withdraw some from the ATM out of habit, or just to be on the safe side. Then I find myself not using the cash anyway and it sits in wallet for a few weeks.

Even smaller payments, like paying 10 THB (US 25 cents) for a bottle of water, are done digitally. It’s so prevalent that I hardly even use a debit/credit card anymore unless I have a specific reason.

The payments are done by scanning a QR code at the shop, or in the P2P (person-to-person) scenario by scanner the other person's QR or entering their mobile number. All banks support these payments and for the P2P scenario, you basically link your mobile number with the national switch and point it to one of your bank accounts.

I passed by a coffee shop this morning to go to another one in the US Midwest. The one that I passed takes your credit of debit card inside and does it "the regular way. I often forget to give a tip. The one I went to was newer, used square, made me tap or swipe, but I always give a tip since I'm asked and reminded. This seems to be the pattern, newer places tend to be better. Also in the American Midwest, Dollar General of all places will take every payment system, it's super fast, so there is basically where is always where is test new phones / watches / cards. Walmart, which is pervasive here, only does payments on their app, so no Apple, Google or Samsung pay.

In Poland, there's still places that use cash, for obvious reasons, I am thinking of tattoo/piercing shops, small shops that function as courier hubs, etc.

In general, I simply use a card (phone), and have used over the past N years in Poland, Denmark, and Cyprus.

In the Netherlands, I almost never use cash and could live my life without ever having cash on me. There are some places (not many, but stil) that surprisingly don't even accept cash, like certain cafes and shops.

I have been traveling for some time now, so I can share my experience:

Thailand - mainly cash, QR payment, bank transfer, when paying by card: +3%

Cambodia – cash, cash, cash. Dollars and Riel. When paying by card: +3%-5%

Laos – cash, cash, cash

Malaysia – card and cash, sometimes QR payment, fast transfers,

Indonesia – cash, QR codes, transfers, card in large stores, but the transaction takes a lot of time (they don't know how to use contactless payments)

Palau – cash/card

Taiwan – cash/card

South Korea – cash and metro/city cards. Regular (non korean) cards only accepted at 7/11

Japan – mostly cash. Cards accepted at 7/11 stores and other large stores

Poland – cashless everywhere. Cash is almost non-existent these days

In South Africa, middle-income and above can be almost all digital if they choose. Some folks prefer cash and it's still accepted most places, though I'm seeing some places go cashless more recently.

This is the case even at small markets etc. Over the last two years mobile NFC machines have become widespread.

The only area where I personally feel like I need cash is with car guards (literally people who stand and look after cars in parking areas). I'm not a fan of the profession, but it's culturally common place and many folks tip in small denominations of notes or coins.

I prefer cash, and use it as much as possible, but the US is becoming increasingly cash-hostile. More and more places are refusing to accept it. You will generally only find success claiming legal tender in situations where an actual debt has been incurred (e.g. you've already eaten your meal but have not paid for it yet).

I don't really understand why, from the merchant's perspective. It's like these businesses like reducing their profit margins by paying 2% interchange fees. Baffling.

Finland here. Used to carry some cash, even coins, with me. Even had a fancy leather coin pouch on me =)

When COVID hit, I didn't want to touch other people's grubby coins and neither did stores. Day to day everything is card or Apple pay. Nowadays even more with Apple Pay since it doesn't have a spending limit like NFC cards do. Can't be arsed with Chip&Pin any more.

I still have enough cash to get me back home with a taxi at any time of the day on me, but I haven't needed it yet.

China. I have a few cash in my wallet but haven't spent any for years.

Everything is now done through digital payments either Wechat Pay or Alipay, and all shops in the country accept them.

Almost 100%. I don't remember the last time I withdrew cash.

In Brazil, pix (the central bank digital payment system) is already bigger than any other payment method, removing a big revenue stream from Visa and Mastercard. The cultural changes happening because of the easiness and cheapness of these transactions are amazing. I'm very optimistic for the next few years of tech development with the advances happening in the fintech market here.

Czech Republic. Usually my girlfriend has ~$5 on her for stuff like lemonade stands or public bathrooms, and I'm the irresponsible one who hasn't carried cash since 2018. Some pubs, very small stores or small tourist attractions (climb a tower, see the inside of a church, etc) are still cash-only, especially in the rural parts of the country, but visiting or living in Prague (the capital) cashless is easy with zero issues.

In France (at least from observation, no data here) most people use cards, but there is a sizeable group that still uses cash. Large shops now have marked registers that explicitly accept cash, but most don't. There are still some restaurants and services (some doctors, smaller barber shops) that only accept cash. In general I only have small amount of cash on me, use it maybe once a month.

From Kazakhstan here. Didn't use cash literally for a couple of years. AT ALL. Almost everything can be paid via mobile app (though basically only one bank - Kaspi bank). Products (including dill at bazaar), taxi, even public toilet - everything can be paid via transfer from one Kaspi client to another.

UPD: But cash is still accepted in most cases. Have no idea why some people still use it.

US:

Travel frequently and even in very small towns I’m able to use Apple Pay. Adoption actually seemed faster with some small merchants compared to large holdouts like Walmart or Target which seemed to drag their feet.

Some bars are holdouts accepting Cash only but for the most part I very rarely need to pull out my card.

Some fuel pumps still require inserting my card, but that’s changing too compared to just a few years ago.

I'm in France. We've been using chip & pin cards for small-ish transactions since the early 90s, but it's only with Covid that the last few remnants who didn't use contactless (e.g. me) finally stopped using cash.

There are a few holdouts (e.g. I took a bus in the country side last week that only accepted cash payments), but that's about it.

Despite notorious reputation about how they stuck with cash, I'm 95% fine with cashless payment in Japan 2023. I still need cash for some govt service like renewing license, boutique ramen shops, some small restaurants, coin parkings, and cheap hair salon. Though there are many people still use cash for unknown reason.

Thailand here, we barely use cash with the PromptPay system that allows a simple QR code or your phone number to be linked to your account and receive payments, businesses just print their QRCode and you use your banking app to transfer, pretty fast and convenient. This is instant and no fees by the way.

I live in Germany, Bavaria specifically, and I don't carry cash most of the time. That works fine for groceries and almost all restaurants/cafes, but there are some weird places it causes problems. Post offices don't like to take anything except cash for example.

Denmark: Personally 100% Apple Pay or MobilePay (DK based system). I haven't even touched a Kroner bill or coin in over a year. It has the added benefit of I just take my phone everywhere I go. The ultimate slim wallet is no wallet!

Living in Cyprus, the government made it a legal requirement for businesses to accept digital payments in an attempt to fight tax evasion. As a consequence I haven't used cash locally for the past year. I just carry my phone.

Representing Sub-Saharan Africa, Uganda and Kenya mostly, Mobile Money and M-Pesa are ruling payments, even for very small amounts. However, the charges here in Uganda are still high. Cash is quicker and definitely cheaper.

Sweden. Unfortunately many stores, shops and similar don't even accept cash. I would say most people don't even carry cash anymore.

It's a shame, people just have accepted the modern surveillance society.

In Australia Apple Pay is integrated with our EFTPOS payment system that everyone has (including food stalls) so I’m pay everything through my iPhone and haven’t carried a wallet in years.

France. I carry a 20€ bill in my iPhone case as a safety measure, but I’ve not used it in… must be 10 years now? Time flies!

I never use cash, and I’m annoyed by people who pay with coins.

italy, mostly cashless wherever I can (e.g. at the local market in a very small, remote town)

some merchants use the excuse that their POS is currently “not working”, or there are “connectivity” issues. with recent laws coming into effect every merchant has to accept cards, or be fined (ridiculous percentage..)

i always got some cash on me in case I stumble upon those ingenious and cunning merchants, but it’s getting less common that I actually don’t really need it

You can go cashless in my part of the US if you want to, but fortunately cash is still entirely viable and using it doesn't raise any eyebrows.

In the Philippines, QR-based payments are popular but people still prefer cash because people don't fully trust all-digital transactions

Eastern Europe. slowly transition to digital payments, with two trends working against that: - it seems payment fees for small merchants are such as they lose money on small purchases (e.g. 2-5 EUR). So some of them require or prefer cash. - the anti-vax / anti-5G / chemtrails / anti-Western conspiracy swamp which is slowly rising around us, part of Putin's hybrid war, has chosen cash as one of their banners (along with resisting adoption of the Euro)

It's half and half here in the Lithuania where I live, i'm just glad that I don't see crypto anywhere.