A cashless society is a society in which purchases of goods or services are made by credit card or electronic funds transferal rather than with cash or checks. The economic concept of a cashless society appeared as early as the 17th century, but it was presented as a check at that time. Then it slowly evolved to credit card and debit card, and then into today's e-wallet (LightNet, 2018). Today, a cashless society has become a controversial hot topic when China is rapidly promoting a cashless society. Some people agree that cash currency be eliminated and a cashless society should be promoted, while others think that it is not safe and reliable. Although many people believe a cashless society not safe and reliable, there are some arguments to show that a cashless society should be promoted due to its security and convenience.
Firstly, a cashless society should be promoted because it is safety. Recently figures have shown that a cashless society effectively decrease the rate of crime, example, burglary, robbery. People don't have to pay cash currency when they go out, and there will no robbery. With e-wallet or card payment, all payment will be recorded, expenses will become transparent, and also the tax evasion rate will be greatly reduced. According to an electronic benefit transfer (EBT) program, 9.2% of crime (burglary, robbery) dropped and also decrease the case of financial transaction which involving cash currency (Wright et al., 2014). Furthermore, it also helps to reduce disease transmission. There are a few studies to show that many bacteria and germs and small amount of drugs are stick on our money and coins, those bacteria may be not having big impact to our body but still has a risk of being infected by unknown bacteria. According to a study, it shows “influenza, norovirus, rhinovirus - are all can be transmitted through hand-to-hand or surface-to-hand contact” (Scientific American, 2017). Therefore, those bacteria may harm to our health.
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Next, a cashless society is bringing convenience to us, so cash currency should be eliminated and a cashless society should be promoted. Today, online shopping has become a new consumer market, and many people shop online frequently. Therefore, many merchants have opened online purchase services and delivery services. This provides convenience to buyers. Buyers can buy their favorite things without go to the store. This helps stimulate the frequency of consumption and makes the economy grow. Moreover, digital payment method make payment become easier, they promote economic activity and generate the benefits of financial and non-financial (Massi.et.al., 2019). Furthermore, a cashless society can help to save time. For instance, we no need waste time to queuing up for pay bills or to ATM for withdrawal. All the bills can be paid online with e-wallet and all the things you want to buy can be scanned by QR code of e-wallet. Based on a report, “Further increasing usage of digital payments could save nearly 3 hours per year” (Visa, n.d.). It really brings advantage to us.
However, there are still group of people who believe that a cashless society not safe and reliable and has security issues. But this is not completely true. For the Industry 4.0, it will turn cash transaction into cashless transaction and everything will become mechanization. Banks will cooperation with the companies to establish a secure network information platform for protecting the stability and reliability of e-payment. Government will carry out high-pressure strikes to network financial crimes to maintain the financial order and security of a cashless society. Relevant departments will carry out supervision work according to various payment development situations, improve and pay relevant laws and industry standards. It encourages people to be more trusted on the stability of digital payment.
In a nutshell, it can be said that a cashless society provides a lot of benefits to us, such as safety and convenient. Furthermore, maybe it’s difficult to completely get rid of cash, there are still people rely on it. Actually, digital payments have become normal for people especially those who are living in city areas. The government must take the security steps while they are preparing for a cashless society. I believe that majority of people prefer a convenience and a cost-savings society. A cashless society will do us more good than harm, which is why I think cash currency should be eliminated for a bright and modern future.