ABC News Breakfast
Topic:Business, Economics and Finance
Australians are embracing tech and shifting away from cash. (Unsplash: Nathan Dumlao)
As Australia flirts with the idea of a cashless society after coronavirus, Sweden has a warning: be careful what you wish for.
Sweden is often cited as
the most cashless country in the world.
It was already well on the way to digital-only payments before the pandemic was declared, and the virus has only served to hasten the demise of cash.
"If you walk in the city in Stockholm nowadays, most of the stores will have signs saying they don't accept cash anymore," says Niklas Arvidsson, an associate professor at Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology.
If you are one of the many Australians who now prefer to use a card over cash, this might not sound like such a bad thing.
But as Mr Arvidsson explains, there are now concerns Sweden went too hard too early and the rapid switch can have unintended consequences.
Who are ABC News? Welcome to ABC News In-depth, where you'll find our long-form journalism and explainers to help you understand what's going on in the world around you. ABC News In-depth helps you dig a little deeper. That means looking into the issues that affect all of us, and why it matters to you. It means going
to where the people are. And it also means breaking all of that down for you, one step at a time.
What is Australia? Australia, officially known as the Commonwealth of Australia. It is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. Australia is the largest country in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country by total area. The
population of 26 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Australia's capital is Canberra, and its largest city is Sydney. The country's other major metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide.
What is Cashless? A cashless society describes an economic state whereby financial transactions are not conducted with money in the form of physical banknotes or coins. Transactions are through the transfer of digital information (usually an electronic representation of money) between the transacting parties
Cashless societies have existed from the time when human society came into existence, based on barter and other methods of exchange, and cashless transactions have also become possible in modern times using digital currencies such as bitcoin.
DISCLAIMER
All news articles are shared for educational purposes only. The news content is hosted on the external news website. News articles titles are derived from the original news title, news content, dialogue, speech or general content theme. The news title may be edited and optimized for SEO, keyword density, information and internal website search purposes. You are advised to view the original news article for a better understanding. If you spot any mistakes, errors or omissions kindly contact us.