The Future of Cash – A View from the Philadelphia Fed

The future of cash is, without doubt, the most discussed, presented and written about topic in the cash and retail payments industry during the last 10 years. The topic took on a new dimension with the arrival of COVID-19, the effects of which feature in a discussion paper by Soloman Tarlin from the Supervision, Regulation, and Credit Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, titled simply ‘The Future of Cash’.

The Federal Reserve Diary of Consumer Payment Choice indicates that from 201619, the share in cash payments in the USA fell from 31% to 26%. This decline, Tarlin points out, cannot be attributed to cash becoming more burdensome for consumers or businesses because, in the period, cash became easier to count and handle through automation and other technical improvements.