Cash now makes up 46% of payments worldwide, down from 50% in 2023. A drop of four points in a year is steep, and the same source says it is speeding up in nearly every major economy.
In the United States, cash covers just 16% of consumer payments, third behind credit and debit cards. Sweden, long held up as the most cashless society, has seen so many small shops stop taking banknotes that the government has proposed a law. Stores would have to accept cash for food, medicine and government fees.
Who still needs it
Federal Reserve data shows cash use is driven mainly by two groups: people in low-income households and adults aged 55 and older. About 3.5 million US households, roughly 2.6% of the total, are entirely cash-only. They have no bank account and use no prepaid cards or apps such as Venmo or Cash App. Every grocery bill and rent payment goes through bills and coins.
The FDIC has warned that as finance moves onto digital rails, these households may find it harder to take part in the formal economy. Some cashless businesses already turn away customers who can only pay with notes.
Backup and privacy
Cash keeps working when other things fail. Card terminals need power and an internet link, and both can go down in a blackout, a cyberattack or a natural disaster. Al Berman, president of the Disaster Recovery Institute International, advises keeping enough cash at home to buy vital supplies before store shelves empty.
Privacy is the other argument. Every card or app payment leaves a record of what was bought, where and when. The ACLU has said cash “lends itself to privacy, anonymity, and free expression.”
Printing money is not cheap. The Federal Reserve’s 2025 currency budget is $1.04 billion, covering paper, ink, labor, overhead, research and engraving.
Digital currencies
Central bank digital currencies have been floated as a replacement. China’s digital yuan is the largest pilot, with transaction volume reaching the equivalent of $986 billion across 17 provinces by mid-2024. The European Central Bank is piloting a digital euro. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has said any Fed digital currency would need to be “identity verifiable,” so it could not be anonymous.
The US has gone the other way. In 2025, President Trump signed an executive order halting work on a retail digital dollar.
No federal law requires US businesses to accept cash, the Federal Reserve has said, though several states and cities have passed their own rules requiring brick-and-mortar stores to take it.
Digital payments are faster and, for many businesses, cheaper to process, so cash will probably keep losing share. The source behind these figures expects it to end up like a check: still legal and usable, but no longer the default. It does not expect cash to vanish within the next several decades.
