TL;DR: We have all heard the phrase before: “Cashless is the future,” and it sure does look that way. Cash payments are dwindling each day, and most transactions are indeed now cashless, at least the big ones. According to the United States Federal Reserve, 70% of larger transactions are digital. However, cash is still king when we talk about microtransactions (purchases and movements of less than $1). Cash is being viewed every day as an outdated payment instrument, and it is easy to figure out why.

The Case for Cashless

Cash is a physical instrument, and its handling can be troublesome. Dollar bills deteriorate every year and the Federal Reserve (Fed) needs to replace them at a very steep cost. The average lifespan of a $10 banknote is less than a decade, according to data from the Fed. Also, making these notes is not free: each banknote costs between 5 and 14 cents, also according to information from the Fed. In other words, almost a billion dollars will be used to build physical currency in 2019, and such costs are expected to only increase in the future.

More than raw production costs is the burden of having to move notes physically from printing storage to banks, and all the security and logistics associated. As those costs rise, merchants are being encouraged, either through legislation or economic reality, toward a new, cashless trend. While its legality has been questioned, and arrangements preventing physical payment have been outlawed in some states, merchants are ultimately incentivized to lessen cash handling through better security and convenience, … not to mention how accounting can be potentially simplified.

A cashless society appears to be just a matter of time, of when … not if. Cashless convenience is simply not arguable, especially as technological infrastructure for its ubiquity spreads. But this new, cashless society also has grave risks that are not being presented by proponents, and for good reason.

Cashless is a Synonym for Less Privacy

Banks, key, indispensable institutions of all modern industrial economies, are all about cashless payments going forward. In fact, recently in Fortune’s Brainstorm Finance conference, Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America, the second largest bank in the United States, declared they were all-in for a cashless society. He stated BoA had “more to gain than anybody” if a cashless society truly comes to fruition.

Why does the CEO of a big bank in the US want a cashless society? The answer has to do with the control they would have over everyone’s payments, and the fees they would collect as a result of these transactions. Physical cash movements are not nearly as lucrative, and above all permit users to stay anonymous when purchasing goods and paying for services. With notable exceptions, cash transactions are about as anonymous as most normal economic actors can hope.

Furthermore, modern bank statements are living diaries, journals of our desires and needs. In them, we have reflected what we consider worthy of purchase. To a disinterested observer, such detail might at first appear banal, routine. But over time patterns emerge and profiles can be assembled, giving an intimate portrait of the spender. It is, obviously, an information gold mine. A further centralized cashless society would enable banks to harvest and sell your preferences at a premium, something already being done to varying degrees. And that is just the beginning. It should not take long for readers to conjure up Orwellian nightmare scenarios of censorship.

Banks by themselves don’t have the capacity of managing complex artificial intelligence algorithms to build these systems. Tech companies like Facebook, however, are joining the fight for your data with the tools needed to make problematic cashless societies possible. Libra, the latest centralized so-called “cryptocurrency” project presented by the social media giant, is nothing more than a vehicle to achieve more dominance over Big Data. It should not be surprising it is being backed by credit and payments companies like MasterCard, Visa, and PayPal. The danger is at the intersection between banks and tech companies.

Cashless Done Right: Enter Cryptocurrency

The privacy-oriented citizen still has an alternative: cryptocurrency. The cryptocurrency idea initially surged as a way of making transactions between peers without having authorization from a trusted central institution (like banks). As such, cryptocurrency is the natural enemy of a banking/big tech alliance.

Real, sound uncensorable money in the form of cryptocurrency can serve to help users transact without traditional banking. In theory, a viable alternative cryptocurrency would work independently of legacy trust systems. Governments and banks would not be able to snoop or censor purchases, sell personal information, and your money would be really yours — again, in theory.

In short, the cashless society desired by banks and Silicon Valley is for sure at odds with freer markets and freer people. But cryptocurrency allows for a different future outcome. There are viable alternatives, offering breaks from what seem to be inevitable and ever-invasive financial futures. All it takes is the leveraging of crypto’s power.

CONTINUE THE SPICE and check out our piping hot VIDEOS. Our podcast, The CoinSpice Podcast, has amazing guests. Follow CoinSpice on Twitter. Join our Telegram feed to make sure you never miss a post. Drop some BCH at the merch shop — we’ve got some spicy shirts for men and women. Don’t forget to help spread the word about CoinSpice on social media.