As a case in point, if more retail merchants in Germany accepted debit or credit card payments, that would undoubtedly drive down the share of cash in higher payment amounts – though I admit that this does bring to mind the question “What came first: the chicken or the egg?”.
Even if this scenario were to materialise, debit and credit card payments would not crowd out cash payments altogether. Contrary to what some might believe, cash isn’t actually a particularly expensive form of payment. Indeed, in terms of costs per transaction, cash payments are far cheaper than both debit and credit cards.