The War on Cash

Every crisis retires more banknotes. Anonymity, critics note, is being phased out.

The war on cash: India's 2016 demonetization voided 86% of currency overnight (documented, with RBI data showing nearly all of it returned anyway); Sweden's retail cash use fell below 10%; the ECB retired the €500 note; economists (Rogoff, 'The Curse of Cash') openly argue for phasing out paper to enable negative rates and kill gray markets. Lore reads a coordinated march toward programmable CBDC money that can be switched off per person. The documented part is the direction; the disputed part is the intent — and Rogoff's book means the argument, at least, is public.