Why Sweden is abandoning its cashless society

nephihaha

Quote from article: 'It all changed when Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. Realising that reliance on an electronic payment system left Sweden vulnerable to blackouts or sabotage, the Riksbank – Sweden's central bank – urged civilians to keep 1,000 Swedish kronor (£80) per adult at home. The government issued a brochure entitled "If Crisis or War Comes" to every household, advising Swedes to use cash regularly to "strengthen preparedness".'

lifestyleguru

How have we even arrived to a point where all payments go through Visa/Mastercard duopoly and to pay people hectically unlock, reconnect, and reinstall stuff on their smartphones?

ethor

Imagine becoming a dissident in a totalitarian society where you can be cut off from all commercial transactions with the click of a button (i.e. cash has a broader purpose).

jmkd

A shame that this took the threat of war to be taken seriously, rather than the reality of disenfranchisement faced by the elderly, immigrants, the homeless and the unbanked for whom cash remains a lifeline. It is of great convenience to governments that digital payments require registered accounts on easily-tracked systems. Just let people buy vegetables without becoming a cell in a Borgesian spreadsheet.

Aldipower

In Germany we like to mimic things from other western countries a lot. Especially the nordics (including Sweden) and the US. Problem, we do this with a delay of 5-10 years. Right now we are in the transformation process of becoming cashless.. Like our role model Sweden. Hmm, something feels wrong.. :-)

wood_spirit

Sweden still feels very cashless in practice. My barber went back from swish to cash because of the charges for businesses but that is the only non-swish/non-card shopping I do these days and my haircut is literally the only thing I’ve paid cash for since well before covid. Even market stalls etc take swish. I never carry cash on me normally. It has made life much better. There is a small number - less in real life than on the comments on the internet to be honest - people lamenting the decline of cash but the vast vast majority completely don’t miss cash.

countWSS

Any "central payment system"(like e.g. obsession with Paypal) is a single-point-of-failure vulnerability. Cash is decentralized and independent of any technology failing. people find this the hard way during electric blackouts, that credit cards are useless without electricity, but somehow still think "electronic payment" is worth completely switching over.

atoav

Interesting because I have read that Germans traveling to Ukraine are amazed at how cashless daily life is even close to the front lines. Now Germany is a famously cash-centric society, so I am not sure what to make of that comparison. Nevertheless it is certainly a good idea to think about fallbacks tho.

crazybonkersai

Funny that Sweden abandoned its 200-year neutrality and joined NATO in the name of security and yet security situation for Sweden has only deteriorated since then. Shows how short sighted and brainwashed Swedish politicians are.

locallost

The headline is preposterous. The article itself says less than 5 percent people used cash last year compared to 10% 2023. How is that abandoning its cashless society? The only thing is the government asking people to have roughly a $100 worth of cash at home for emergencies like total blackouts.

feverzsj

Only barter is viable during wartime.

timonoko

I think China is cashless society but not relying on internet servers. Beggars and street vendor have printed-out QR-code and no phone. You scan the code with Alipay-app and show the confirmation screen to the seller. This is not a real-time transaction. It is executed when the server is available. Youtube-girl Qingyunji bought some water on remote mountain road using QR-on-cardboard and this is what I assume happened.

alper

I read it and I knew it was going to be Russia.

yxhuvud

Stupid headline, we are still on the path towards it.

roody15

Recently separated and cash still has lots of practical uses and is needed.