Mobile payments, which are already commonplace in numerous countries worldwide, are steadily gaining traction.

In China's biggest cities, ninety-two percent of people use WeChat Pay or Alipay, the market's main competitors,

and mobile payments are accepted by restaurants, retailers, street vendors, and even taxis.

More broadly, in 2018, the mobile money industry completed 1.3 billion dollars of transactions daily across ninety countries.

This underscores a shift toward a cashless society dominated by electronic banking and digital finance, where physical transactions like bartering are virtually non-existent.

Proponents for a cashless system believe that digital money increases convenience and could reduce robbery and counterfeiting,

while opponents argue that it endangers privacy and hurts disadvantaged communities that rely on cash.

And while many of the long-term consequences of cashlessness remain to be seen, the movement towards a cashless society seems highly likely, if not inevitable.