{"id":1581,"date":"2015-07-21T14:30:27","date_gmt":"2015-07-21T14:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tellermate.spindogs4.co.uk\/?p=1016"},"modified":"2019-01-30T15:27:29","modified_gmt":"2019-01-30T15:27:29","slug":"criminals-ones-using-cash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tellermate.com\/fr\/news-and-resources\/criminals-ones-using-cash\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Criminals the Only Ones Using Cash?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year I found a TED Talks on the Future of Cash. As I work for Tellermate, and we talk about money a lot, I was excited to hear it. I enjoy learning others perspectives of cash, how they use it, how they think it will continue to be used, and how it is being used globally, but I will say I was a bit surprised on the concept that this talk brought up. The talk was given by David Birch, a British consultant and accountant that is a director of a company specializing in electronic money. This should have been my first clue as to the direction the talk was going in, but none the less, it\u2019s good to see all sides of an argument, I know I don\u2019t have the final answer.<\/p>\n

The main point I got out of his talk was that most of the cash in circulation was not being used to support any sort of global economy through people purchasing things, but instead to support the black market. So in turn, cash was hurting our economy because only criminals use cash.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s think that through\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"shutterstock_59070268\"There is some validity to what he is saying.\u00a0 Pablo Escobar, the Columbian drug lord, was believed to have lost $1 billion of his profits a year to water damage and rats eating his cash. Now that\u2019s a lot of cash laying around to be able to lose that much a year. And personally, I know I don\u2019t carry around $100 bills in my wallet, but it is the 3rd<\/sup> most printed bill in the United States (1<\/a>). Someone is carrying around stacks of $100s, hiding them under the bed or in the basement, a la rat food. \u00a0There is no doubt, cash is still in the hands of many criminals but that doesn\u2019t mean criminals are the ones using a majority of the cash in circulation.<\/p>\n

In 2014, 85% of all global retail payments were in cash <\/strong>(2<\/a>). Not global theft, not global cash in circulation, but global retail payments. That\u2019s actual items bought, taxed and given a receipt for. Not criminal in my book. Looking at another point, ATM withdrawals. I really doubt many criminals are using a bank or ATM to access their cash; doesn\u2019t seem Pablo Escobar was. The global monthly cash withdrawals is set to rise to over 8.6 billion in 2015, representing $103 billion cash withdrawals per year. (3<\/a>)<\/p>\n

It looks to me that cash is on the rise and is being used by a multitude of people, not just criminals.\u00a0 \u00a0In fact, 2014 was the year of the credit card fraud, and there was more talk of consumers turning back to cash for fear of fraud, criminals attacking electronic payments? \u00a0Let\u2019s look at some facts:<\/p>\n