Even a stopped clock is right twice a day ...
"... a new members' bill put forward by New Zealand First
would protect cash as a key option in transactions, requiring stores to take it for purchases up to $500. If drawn from the ballot and passed, NZ First leader Winston Peters said it would 'provide for the enduring use of cash as a private, accessible, and reliable method of payment'."
#NikDirga, 2025
(1/3)
Until we have a vendor-neutral digital payment protocol, physical cash needs to be a payment option. Even if it's not used for the majority of transactions, having the option there prevents the handful of digital payment processors from ramping up transaction fees, the way they do online. Speaking of which ...
(2/3)
"There are some exceptions given to the bill's requirements, including online retailers and land purchases."
#NikDirga, 2025
Bank transfer to an account number should always be accepted as an alternative to paying by debit/ credit card. Even if the transaction isn't considered complete until the transfer arrives in the receiving bank account.
(3/3)
How does this work in practice? Plastic cards with credits on them? How does the receiver confirm they've received the credits?
https://www.theafricaiknow.org/articles/The-African-Mobile-Money-Revolution
No, in Africa you can text credits from your cell account to any other cell number on the network. They have some users in cities with access to financial institutions who want to talk to their families in villages who primarily subsist on agriculture and use barter or cash, with no easy way to pay a phone company. So the only way to get those people as customers was to let their relatives in the cities who want to talk to them to send them phone credits over the network. Over time the phone credits replaced cash as the preferred medium of exchange because they are password protected so not easily stolen.
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