The Telegraph reports: Nearly a third of the Danish population uses MobilePay, a smartphone application for transferring money to other phones and shops, and Sweden, Denmark and Finland lead the European Union in credit card payments per inhabitant.
The Danish government said as of next year, businesses such as clothing retailers, petrol stations and restaurants should no longer be legally-bound to accept cash.
The proposal is part of a pre-election package of economic growth measures aimed at reducing costs and increasing productivity for businesses. It would need to be approved by parliament, although the timing of a vote is as yet unknown.
What appears from the outside as a drastic step, within the country, the Danes are already moving away from paper and metal money. One third of the population uses an official Danske Bank app called MobilePay . The app links your mobile to other users’ phones or to a sensor at the till, allowing users to confirm payments with a simple swipe on their smartphone’s screen.
Similar technologies like Paym are available in the UK, which allows users to transfer money to others by entering their mobile number. Google Wallet turns your phone into a contactless card, allowing you to tap your device against readers to transfer money – however, it is currently only available in the USA.
The whole system has its cause of worries. There are fears that it would lead to increase in fraud cases. Take for example Sweden, a nation with one of the highest numbers of bank transactions per person in the European Union, cases of card fraud have doubled in the last decade. Denmark’s biggest bank and owner of MobilePay, Danske Bank , has taken steps to prevent fraud by linking the app to NemID, a digital signature linked to the Danish equivalent of individuals’ social security numbers.
The Nordic countries of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland lead the world in cashless payments – cash payments for even the smallest items, such as a packet of chewing gum, are commonplace.
In a funnily tragic incident which happened in 2013, a Swedish bank robber left empty-handed, after he found out that the Stockholm bank he held up did not carry any cash.
With more and more banks having zero cash reserves, it is predicted that Denmark may become completely cashless by 2030.
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Yeah I live in Denmark.
I have moved back to cash to stop this trend.
Cash all the way.
I live in Sweden and i rarely have cash on me. I usually pay with card or swish (mobile payment app)
Cash is terrible. No point. Hate it.
yes, it’s great to be free from papers and coins, but then again. I live in denmark, and to be honest, i don’t want any to check what i’m doing, not bc i’m doing something illegal, but for 1 simple reason, freedom! my concern would be that they can watch over our transactions and see our habits and life, especially if they collect all our data. i don’t even trust Bitcoin even though it’s encrypted, so these system are fantastic, if it wasn’t bc of they use it to watch over us. If Denmark didn’t tapped into ppl’s privacy then it’s the perfect to use all the technology to create a better and more safe world. But when you have to give up your freedom for safety, then fuck safety!