I wonder how central bank digital currencies will play into this. E.g. for the digital Euro, the ECB intends it to be included under legal tender [0] laws making acceptance of digital cash mandatory wherever you can pay in cash (i.e. every physical POS).
I expect most digital wallets to be made obsolete by such a measure, because most of the use of a digital wallet as described by the post is easy, nearly free digital transactions by end-users. Everything else can be done using your regular bank account. An ECB-backed alternative to Paypal, Venmo, Cash App et al. would certainly be more trustworthy to citizens and the compulsory acceptance by merchants will artifically solve the chicken-egg problem that most such private companies have.
Ditto for debit cards, which would pose a threat to Visa and Mastercard.
I'm curious what kind of ecosystem will exist around CBDCs.
I expect most digital wallets to be made obsolete by such a measure, because most of the use of a digital wallet as described by the post is easy, nearly free digital transactions by end-users. Everything else can be done using your regular bank account. An ECB-backed alternative to Paypal, Venmo, Cash App et al. would certainly be more trustworthy to citizens and the compulsory acceptance by merchants will artifically solve the chicken-egg problem that most such private companies have.
Ditto for debit cards, which would pose a threat to Visa and Mastercard.
I'm curious what kind of ecosystem will exist around CBDCs.
[0]: https://finance.ec.europa.eu/digital-finance/digital-euro/fr...