News | Cash & Payment News

John Winchcombe

2 July 2026

5 min read

CBDC News

In an Act about housing supply, the US Senate included a ban on the Federal Reserve issuing or creating a central bank digital currency (CBDC), or any substantially similar distributed ledger technology (DLT) based digital asset, until the end of 2030, including via intermediaries. The bill now goes back to the House of Representatives.

CBDC

John Winchcombe

2 July 2026

5 min read

Payment News

The Canadian government is planning to ban Canada’s estimated 4,000 crypto capable ATMs after concluding that they are being used by scammers to defraud users.

Payments

John Winchcombe

2 July 2026

2 min read

Japan’s Plans for Digital Currency

Ryozo Himino, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Japan, recently spoke about the singleness of money and the role of central banks. In his speech he noted the divergent approaches being taken by the US and Europe (GENIUS Act and the digital euro), stating that they may not serve as a model for Japan to follow given that they are heading in different directions, limiting the room for global consensus standards to emerge. Also, unlike the dollar, the yen is not the world’s key currency and Japan is an individual nation state with its own currency that is not a tool for regional integration.

CBDC

John Winchcombe

2 July 2026

5 min read

News in Brief

The UK Government has commissioned an independent review to examine the impact of bank branch closures.

News

John Winchcombe

28 May 2026

4 min read

Push Back Against the Mantra of Inevitable Cash Decline

Currency Research has published a report on the findings of a survey of 37 central banks across six continents to examine global cash usage trends and the longterm role of physical currency. The report was initiated because the experiences of mature economies are shaping the cash narrative when, in fact, the rest of the world is seeing a very different situation.

Cash Usage Studies, Reports

John Winchcombe

28 May 2026

3 min read

The Importance of Financial Literacy in Determining Cash Use

In conjunction with the UK’s National Westminster bank, Prof Darren Duxbury, behavioural finance expert and Chair in Finance at Newcastle University Business School, has carried out a research project investigating the behavioural traits that influence peoples’ choices of payment method.

Cash Usage

John Winchcombe

28 May 2026

6 min read

Cash in Good Heart in Türkiye

At the Global Currency Forum (GCF) in Antalya at the end of April, who said or made a comment along the lines below (answers below)?

Events

John Winchcombe

28 May 2026

3 min read

Retail Payments in the Euro Area – What Does the Data Really Tell Us?

Diederik Bruggink, Senior Director – Payments, Digital Finance and Innovation (WSBI-ESBG), has published an article in the Journal of Payments Strategy & Systems: ‘A Tale of Transactions: An analysis of Retail Payments in the Euro Area’ posted on LinkedIn about it (Post | LinkedIn). The paper takes a data-driven look at how Europeans really pay today – across cash, debit cards and e-money – using the European Central Bank (ECB) SPACE 2024 study and the ECB Data Portal, with the aim of adding to the current debate about a possible holding limit for the digital euro.

Payments

John Winchcombe

28 May 2026

2 min read

Cash Crisis? What Crisis?

There is a very significant focus on the challenges faced when people choose to pay digitally rather than with cash. It seems to be a, if not the, core theme of conferences, publications and public policy wherever you go. Why? And should it be? Two papers reported in this edition suggest it should not – the high volume economies report from the Global Currency Forum (GCF) and the Currency Research Cash Resilience paper.

Central Banks Editorial Future of Cash

John Winchcombe

28 May 2026

6 min read

The Realities of Managing Cash at Volume

An excellent session at the Global Currency Forum saw Joash Rono (Central Bank of Kenya), Alberto Torfer (Bank of Mexico), Anwar Bashori (Bank Indonesia – BI), Firat Emre Karakas (Central Bank of Türkiye – CBRT) and Faisal I Algosar (Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority) give the perspective of some high volume economies, a very different set of priorities from other presentations.

Cash in Circulation Central Banks

John Winchcombe

28 May 2026

3 min read

Smart Money and the Importance of Trust

Chris Skinner’s new book, The Intelligent Bank, is not about cash1. He writes about how banking, having become digital, is now on a journey to become intelligent. He argues that this requires a fundamentally new way of working because it requires smart data. There are, perhaps, two key lessons which apply to cash and the cash cycle.

AI Payments

John Winchcombe

28 May 2026

3 min read

Local Currency Cross-Border Payment Infrastructure Growing Fast

Atlantic Council has published an article looking at the growth of using local currencies for cross-border payments rather than the US dollar. The article concludes that this change has been driven by a wish to reduce costs, limit exposure to foreign-exchange volatility, and lessen vulnerabilities stemming from reliance on a handful of major currencies for cross-border payment transactions.

Payments

John Winchcombe

28 May 2026

5 min read

News in Brief

In a speech at the Banknote Conference on payment choice by Victoria Cleland, the Bank of England’s Executive Director, Payments, cash took centre stage.

News

John Winchcombe

28 May 2026

5 min read

Payment News

A consortium of major European banks are working on a privately-issued digital euro. However, the European Central Bank (ECB) argues that euro-denominated stablecoins are not an effective way to strengthen the euro’s international appeal.

Payments

John Winchcombe

28 May 2026

4 min read

CBDC News

18 months after the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) exited the mBridge cross-border project and launched Project Agorá, the fragmentation of cross-border payments has become almost institutionalised.

CBDC

John Winchcombe

28 May 2026

3 min read

Making Sense of the World of Currency

With 163 banknote issuing authorities, over 1,000 circulating banknote denominations and a similar number of coins, exploring currency trends can look daunting. Central banks, mints and treasury departments often need to understand design, substrate and security feature trends in the region and wider to explore options. Printers, designers, R&D departments and product managers, suppliers and cash cycle stakeholders also need this information.

Data Analytics

12 May 2026

1 min read

Cash Surveys in Three Economies Point to Stabilising Usage

The CPT Group has published a comparative analysis of recent consumer payments surveys from Switzerland, Australia, and Jamaica, drawing some striking parallels despite the three countries' very different payment landscapes.

Cash in Circulation Payments

John Winchcombe

23 April 2026

4 min read

Growing Cash Pressure in Switzerland

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) runs a number of annual surveys to understand payment trends over time and what is happening now. The latest is the 2025 survey of payment methods of 2,000 private individuals, consisting of a questionnaire and the keeping of a payment diary for a seven day period.

Free Surveys Free

John Winchcombe

23 April 2026

3 min read

Importance of Cash Confirmed in Australia

The 2025 Australian Consumer Payments Survey shows that cash use has stabilised in recent years.

Surveys

John Winchcombe

23 April 2026

3 min read

CBDC News

Norges Bank has now published four reports that led it to conclude in December 2025 that introducing a CBDC was currently not warranted.

CBDC

Latest News

CBDC News

Payment News

Japan’s Plans for Digital Currency

News in Brief

Push Back Against the Mantra of Inevitable Cash Decline

The Importance of Financial Literacy in Determining Cash Use

Cash in Good Heart in Türkiye

Retail Payments in the Euro Area – What Does the Data Really Tell Us?

Cash Crisis? What Crisis?

The Realities of Managing Cash at Volume

Smart Money and the Importance of Trust

Local Currency Cross-Border Payment Infrastructure Growing Fast

News in Brief

Payment News

CBDC News

Making Sense of the World of Currency

Cash Surveys in Three Economies Point to Stabilising Usage

Growing Cash Pressure in Switzerland

Importance of Cash Confirmed in Australia

CBDC News

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