1/31/2026

Will Physical Money Ever Go Away?

Over the past few years, I’ve been hearing that eventually we’ll no longer use physical money – bills and coins – because electronic ‘money’ is so much easier to use. Some may think nothing of this, believing it’s just progress. But I have two questions for those who think this would be a good idea.

First, do they realize that every single transaction they make will be traceable? It won’t matter if they’re ordering something from Amazon or buying a sandwich or lottery tickets at the local convenience store, there will be a record of everything they buy or service they pay for. Nothing will be anonymous. Nothing.

But that isn’t the thing that bothers me most. It’s the second thing.

Second, if there is no power and/or no Internet there will be no money. Keep in mind the latest Snowmageddon that took place almost a week ago knocked out power and comm services here and there across the nation. That means that stores would be unable to sell you anything because you don’t have any actual money on hand to pay for anything. You won’t be able to pay for food. You won’t be able to pay for clothing. You won’t be able to pay for gasoline. (Yes , this assumes the gas station has power. I know of a few around here that do have their own emergency generators.) It won’t matter if you have hundreds, thousands, or millions of dollars in the bank because you won’t be able to access any of it because it doesn’t really exist. It’s just 1’s and 0’s in a computer somewhere, a computer that you won’t be able to access.

Will physical cash ever go away?

Lord, I hope not.