Australia is marching toward a cashless society and its drive to do so is gathering momentum. More companies are cashless than ever, with more and more of them offering online only products and services.
Digital wallets – in the form of smartphones and other devices used to make online payments – will account for $1.35 trillion in global spend by the end of 2017- a 32 per cent increase on 2016.
The majority of smart phone users believe Australia could become cashless as early as 2022. Smart phone users already made 53 per cent of their payments digitally and 79 per cent believed it would soon become the norm.
“In the last 12 months,” said Elliot Smith, head of consumer deposits at Westpac, “there has been a 200 per cent increase in Westpac customers using their mobile [phone] to tap and pay. Cashless technology is the way of the future.”
Digital payment providers have jumped on board too. Apps are being developed to allow customers to order and pay for food from favorite local cafes and restaurants. One of the latest concepts to come on board is digital gift card giving, where vouchers for major stores can be bought, sent and received via mobile phone instantly.
“The gift card market in Australia is worth $4.5 billion annually,” said Claire Morris of Prezzee, an app company that sells digital gift cards. “Digital gift cards are more personal than giving someone cash. You have them on your phone, you never lose them and if you lose your phone, we put a hold on the card.” Ms. Morris believes physical gift cards may no longer exist in three to five years. Prezzee partners with large retailers like Myer, David Jones, JB Hi-Fi, Woolworths and Coles to provide cards people can purchase.
Australians are so comfortable with the digital environment that the younger generation is looking forward to a cashless society in the future. And the tipping point may be sooner than later. A consortium of companies and the RBA is developing a “new payments system” in which people can send money to other people or businesses in real time, even outside banking hours. Similar systems are already functioning in places like Sweden, which is almost entirely cashless. And come 01 July, fees banks are allowed to charge for using cards for transactions will drop to 3 cents, further pushing a cashless track. While there are still some holdouts, like older people, Australia is rapidly moving toward cashless anyway.
But pushing all transactions to digital and away from cash has a very dark side. The Bible prophetically tells us that eventually those who do not go along with the religion of the new world order will be banned from economic transactions all together. Having only a digital economy will make that considerably easier to enforce. As Australia nears the end of cash, it will become much easier to impose the mark of the beast. Will Australia lead the world in economic control?
“And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” Revelation 13:17