Fun Fact: The earliest origins of money can be traced as far
back as 9000BC, where grains were generally used as a form of money for
exchange of goods. Later came gold
coins, then copper coins and now, here we are at paper notes. The one notable change that can be seen here
is the fact that the tangibility of money is slowly decreasing over the years.
Hear me out; the first official modes of currency were coins
made of precious metals. This went on for some centuries, when suddenly, it was
shifted to lesser materials like copper or bronze and even silver. Then, in a sort of a new age revolution,
paper currency notes were brought into use by the Europeans in the 17th
century (Another Fun Fact: The Chinese were the actual inventors of paper
currency and were using it for more than 500 years before the Europeans).
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| The ancient form of money- copper and bronze coins |
So, it’s been another 400 years or so, since paper currency
is being used as a prominent method of exchange of goods (read: transaction).
But, if you look closely at the trend in the market, the signs of its demise
are pretty evident. As we rapidly move into a digital society, paper currency
is bound to die.
Money was first truly digitized with the introduction of
credit cards in America in the 1970s. Before that, a stable financial credit
system run by a third party (in this case a bank), which was accepted by most
of the merchants did not exist. And thus emerged, Visa and Master Card and
other players of digital money.
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| Various plastic money vendors |
Like every new innovation, it took its time to become
popular, but now, here we are, using cashless money with great ease in our
daily lives. So much so, that without our realization, paper currency is slowly
dying. With the Reserve Bank looking to standardize plastic currency after a
short trial in a few states, it seems the end is near.
But, India and even many developed countries have a long way
to go towards the path of a cashless world. In fact, Sweden has come out as the
country that is the closest to a cashless society. On an average, every single
person in Sweden makes almost 260 transactions using their credit and debit
cards per year.
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| An army of credit and debit cards are on offer from almost every bank |
The reason behind this shift in mode of ‘preferable’ form of
currency is the strong force by which technology is shaping and evolving our
world. Cashless transactions are not only more flexible, but, surprisingly,
more secure too. Unified shopping markets like supermarkets and hypermarts are
only fueling this process. Almost
anywhere you go, you’ll find a card machine just waiting for your card to get swiped.
And even the financial market is promoting their use, for the simple fact that
they are comparatively much easier to process and handle, than traditional
currency.
Online transactions have further reduced the physical
footprint of currency. The physical swiping of the card has also been nullified,
with secure alpha-numerical passcodes being used to safeguard your
transactions.
Apple Pay and Google Wallet
So, this is where the next big leap in money transactions
comes into the picture. It’s a universal fact now that mobile technology is a powerful
force and almost all digital traffic is currently hogged by it. So, the whole
premise here is that over the past year Apple and Google introduced a new
revolutionary way of making transactions (As if cashless online payments
weren't revolutionary enough).
So, almost every decent smartphone in the market has an NFC
(Near Field Communication) chip built into them today. But, for the average
consumer, until now, it was just useless gimmick. But, as it turns out, these mammoth of
companies, do think ahead. So, they have developed a new method of wirelessly
making transactions using your mobile phones; even the manual typing of
passcodes has been slashed.
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| Wireless transaction through Apple Pay |
The smartphone in your hand will smartly enough, store all
your collection of plastic money (read: credit &debit cards) in a single,
“secure” place on your phone. And with that, you can wirelessly make payments
by just hovering your device just near the payment machine, with a single tap.
Wow! Right? Not exactly. What’s skeptical here is the fact
that mobile technology (as wonderful as it is) is still flawed; and not too
secure either, as evident from various hacking scandals that come up from time
to time. So, would you trust your mobile manufacturer with all your accumulated
wealth? That is the biggest question that remains unanswered.
While these companies do promise complete privacy and many
other complex innovations that are supposed to keep our transactions safe or in
other words crime free. But, that can only be ascertained, when we actually see
this technology in action.
We are still too early in the game and surely, THIS IS THE
FUTURE. But, the present? I really don’t
think so. But, this much is clear that
we are hurtling towards a cashless society. The next time you go shopping or
buy something, notice the change, and you’ll know what I mean.
