No Cash All Pain?: Entire sectors of the global economy were disrupted by a single, botched PC security update, and it could easily happen again. This is why proponents of cash argue that we should never completely abandon non-digital money as a legitimate form of payment.
Security company CrowdStrike has caused disruptions to millions of Windows systems over the past few days, just months after similar issues affected Linux-based machines. The latest global IT outage led to significant disruptions across industries, particularly for businesses that rely heavily on digital and cashless payment systems.
The Payment Choice Alliance (PCA) argues that the CrowdStrike incident should serve as a warning against major changes in how money and payments are managed in modern society. The UK-based organization advocates for payment choice, noting that only three percent of adults in the UK have completely stopped using cash.
PCA President Ron Delnevo stated that outages are inevitable. However, if there are no alternatives to cards or digital apps, the entire economy could collapse. According to the banking organization UK Finance, cash payments have been increasing. The number of regular cash users fell from 23.1 million in 2021 to 21.6 million last year.
Cash continues to play a role in modern society, and most businesses still accept it. The GMB Union, a trade organization representing over 560,000 private and public entities in the United Kingdom, also emphasizes that cash is a vital component of community operations.
“When you take cash out of the system, people have nothing to fall back on, impacting on how they do the everyday basics,” the organization said.
Cash is also essential for those seeking privacy and anonymity, according to PCA campaign director Martin Quinn. Thanks to cash, no Big Tech company or digital platform can collect or sell personal data. Banks, credit card companies, and online retailers do not have the right to know every detail of an individual’s life, Quinn stated. Furthermore, cash remains the easiest payment method for some.