It is conceptually interesting to fathom an alternative future, such as one in which there is complete disintermediation of banks and even central banks, with state currencies being replaced by decentralized digital currencies. However, the reality is that some form of cash is still likely to be retained, since it allows for reliable ‘redundancy’ support.
At a recent forum a very vivid example was provided, “…even though we have the benefit of LED lights and energy efficient appliances, when the electricity goes off, we resort to candles and flashlights.” The reliance on cash is no different, as we were recently reminded in the face of our regional neighbours’ natural disasters, when there was mobile phone connectivity or access to online banking services.