If convenience were the only measure, cash might seem to be gradually fading into the background.
Cashless payments are undoubtedly becoming more common in Japan. According to Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the country’s cashless payment ratio reached 42.8% in 2024, representing ¥141.0 trillion in transactions and exceeding the government’s 40% target. Credit cards, electronic money, QR-code payments and smartphone payments are increasingly part of everyday shopping and store operations.
More recently, there has also been growing debate over whether AI and robotics could change the nature of work, income and even money itself. Discussions surrounding comments by Elon Musk have included the possibility that, if AI, robotics and energy technologies advance far enough, work, saving and money might become less important in the future. This is not a settled outcome, of course, but one possible vision of the future.
Even so, the debate raises an important question.
If payments keep moving online and AI begins to reshape the economy itself, will we still need banknotes and coins? Will cash eventually become a thing of the past?
MORICASH’s answer is straightforward.
Cash will not simply disappear. Its role, however, will continue to change.
Cash might not remain the leading choice for everyday payments. Yet it will continue to matter in real-world situations: during disasters and network outages, for older people and travelers, at end-of-day till reconciliation, when new and previous banknote issues circulate together, and wherever coins still need to be managed. Cash is shifting from “the payment method people use most often” to “an essential part of social infrastructure when it is needed.”
Key Takeaway
The shift toward cashless payments will continue. It is not a trend that needs to be resisted; for many consumers and businesses, it is a welcome improvement in convenience.
But greater use of cashless payments is not the same as cash falling to zero.
Even if people use it less often for routine purchases, cash will remain as a means of supporting emergency resilience, financial inclusion, freedom of payment choice, public trust and day-to-day store operations.
For businesses, the important question is not whether to oppose cashless payments. It is how accurately, quickly and reliably they can handle the cash that remains in an era of mixed payment methods.
The Cashless Shift Is Real, but It Does Not Mean Zero Cash
Discussions about the future of cash often drift toward extremes.
“We are becoming a cashless society, so cash will disappear soon.”
Or:
“Cash is still here, so cashless payments are not a major change.”
Both positions oversimplify reality.
For consumers, cashless payments are fast, convenient and easy to connect with points and membership programs. For stores, they can shorten checkout times, integrate with POS and accounting systems, and make sales management more efficient.
It is therefore natural for cash to account for a smaller share of everyday payments.
But lower frequency does not mean that a function has disappeared. Some things matter to society not because they are used every day, but because their absence creates serious problems when they are needed.
Cash is one of them.
Even if you normally pay by smartphone, cash becomes the most direct and widely understood payment method when a network goes down, a terminal stops working, a disaster occurs or the other party cannot use digital payments.
If Cash Is No Longer Needed, Why Did Japan Issue New Banknotes?
On July 3, 2024, Japan began issuing new ¥10,000, ¥5,000 and ¥1,000 banknotes. The National Printing Bureau highlights improvements in anti-counterfeiting technology and universal design in the new notes.
The important point is that Japan is updating its cash infrastructure at the same time as it promotes cashless payments.
Bank of Japan materials on the new notes also explain that, although the shift toward cashless payments is continuing, demand for cash remains strong and cash is likely to retain an important role as a means of payment. They also note that financial institutions and cash-handling equipment need to be ready for the new banknotes.
In other words, Japan is not operating on the assumption that cash will disappear soon. It is maintaining and modernizing the cash system for an era in which several payment methods coexist.
Cash is more than the banknotes and coins themselves.
It is an operating system that includes printing, anti-counterfeiting measures, distribution, ATMs, bank counters, tills, ticket machines, vending machines, parking payment machines, banknote counters, coin counters and end-of-day cash reconciliation.
That is why the future of cash cannot be understood simply by asking whether paper payments feel outdated. We also need to look at the social and operational systems behind them.
The Value of Cash Goes Beyond the Ability to Pay
If cash is viewed only as a payment method, smartphones and cards often appear more convenient.
But the value of cash goes beyond the ability to pay.
Over time, people have come to associate physical banknotes and coins with a sense of reassurance that is difficult to obtain from numbers on a screen alone: having cash in a wallet, knowing it can still work during a power cut or network outage, and handing it directly to another person to complete a transaction on the spot.
That feeling cannot be measured by efficiency alone.
Cash serves at least the following purposes.
First, cash can work offline.
Even when there are problems with a network, terminal, power supply, account or payment system, cash may still be usable at the point of sale.
Second, cash supports financial inclusion.
Not everyone is comfortable with smartphone payments, and not everyone has stable access to a bank account or a digital payment environment. Cash remains an important option for older people, travelers, children and people who are less familiar with digital devices.
Third, cash supports freedom of payment choice.
The European Central Bank connects cash with payment choice, financial inclusion and accessibility. Preserving cash is not simply about protecting an old method; it is also about preserving people’s ability to choose how they pay.
Fourth, cash makes the completion of a transaction tangible.
Digital payments rely on accounts, settlement systems, platforms, banks and networks behind the scenes. Cash, by contrast, completes a transaction through a direct handover. This clarity is one reason it has been used for so long.
Fifth, cash provides a contingency option.
The Bank for International Settlements has cautioned that, even as digital payments expand, some people—including those without bank accounts and some older adults—could be left without accessible ways to pay.
The more digital society becomes, the more valuable it can be to preserve a payment method that does not depend entirely on digital systems.
Will the Future Be One Universal Global Balance?
Taking the debate about AI, robotics and economic change one step further raises another question.
If most future payments are completed through apps, accounts, platforms or machine-to-machine transactions, why would the world still need multiple currencies such as the yen, dollar, euro and renminbi? Why not combine them into one universal digital balance?
In the short to medium term, that would not be simple.
Money is more than a number in an app.
Behind every currency are sovereign credit, taxation, a central bank, laws, debt, monetary policy and crisis management. Payment screens may look similar, but the monetary systems behind them differ by country and region.
Banknotes and coins are the most visible part of those systems. They look simple, but they embody sovereignty, credit, law and public trust.
For that reason, asking whether cash will disappear requires more than comparing the convenience of payment technologies. We also need to consider how societies record, trust and settle value.
Digital Currencies Are Also Learning from Cash
The debate over central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, also helps explain the continuing value of cash.
In its CBDC materials, the Bank of Japan stated that it had no plan to issue a CBDC at that time, while emphasizing the need to prepare for possible future changes. It also noted that if cash circulation were to decline substantially and private digital money could not fully replace the functions of cash, a CBDC might be considered as a payment option alongside cash. The Bank of Japan has further stated that it will continue supplying cash for as long as there is public demand for it.
What is especially interesting is the set of qualities expected from a CBDC.
The Bank of Japan has identified universal access, security, resilience and immediate payment capability as basic CBDC requirements. In a country as exposed to natural disasters as Japan, the possibility of offline use is also an important consideration.
This suggests that digital currency is not simply replacing cash. It is also trying to reproduce qualities that cash already provides.
Cash is not merely an earlier version of digital payments. It has many of the characteristics digital payments need in order to earn lasting trust.
Japan’s Cash Question Ultimately Returns to the Point of Operation
So far, we have considered cashless payments, AI, new banknotes, CBDCs and monetary systems.
For stores and other businesses, however, the cash question ultimately returns to day-to-day operations.
Convenience stores, restaurants, pharmacies, hospital reception desks, schools, car parks, event venues and retailers still handle banknotes and coins, even when cash accounts for a smaller share of payments.
The questions they face are practical, not abstract predictions about the future.
- How much cash did the business receive today?
- Can new and previous banknote issues be processed correctly when they are mixed?
- Can end-of-day till reconciliation be completed more quickly?
- Can manual counting errors be reduced?
- Can coins be sorted by denomination more quickly?
- Is the equipment compatible with Japan’s new banknotes?
- Can the business still accept payments during a disaster or network outage?
These questions do not disappear simply because the cashless payment ratio rises.
In fact, as cash becomes a less frequently used but still essential payment method, cash handling can no longer be treated as something to manage informally by hand. Being able to process it accurately when it is needed helps keep store operations stable.
MORICASH’s Position
MORICASH is not opposed to the shift toward cashless payments.
Cashless payments will continue to expand. Stores and consumers will keep choosing the payment methods that work best for them.
But reality is not a choice between cashless payments and cash.
Reality is the operation of mixed payment methods.
A business accepts cashless payments while continuing to handle banknotes and coins. It manages digital sales while checking till discrepancies. It deals with new banknotes and coins and, depending on the operation, foreign currencies and counterfeit risk.
The challenge is to keep this mixed environment accurate, fast and stable.
That is where MORICASH has a role to play.
MORICASH is a cash-handling equipment brand offering banknote counters, coin counters, currency detectors, coin deposit and dispensing machines, and related equipment. The official website also states that MORI’s core team has more than 30 years of experience in the cash-handling equipment industry. MORICASH exists not to look back nostalgically at the future of cash, but to reduce the burden on businesses that still handle it and to improve the accuracy and speed of their cash processes.
Cash Is More Than a Relic of an Earlier Era
The future of money will probably be more digital than it is today.
Payment interfaces will become more seamless. AI may support transaction processing and management, while robotics and automation could enter more workplaces. Debate over central bank digital currencies and new payment infrastructure will continue.
Even so, as long as society needs offline capability, public trust, financial inclusion, freedom of payment choice, immediate settlement and emergency resilience, cash will not become a mere relic of the past.
There may be less cash.
It may become less visible.
It may move from center stage to a supporting role.
But the systems that support society in the background are often the ones that cannot be missing when they are needed.
The future of cash is not about returning to the past. It is about preserving the functions that cash is uniquely suited to provide within a cashless era.
And wherever cash remains, the work of counting, sorting, checking and managing it remains as well.
MORICASH will continue to support the people and businesses doing that work.
Related Links
- View banknote counters
- View coin counters
- Read about support for Japan’s new banknotes
- Read the banknote counter buying guide
- Discuss wholesale and distribution requirements
References
- Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry: Japan’s 2024 Cashless Payment Ratio
- National Printing Bureau: New Bank of Japan Notes
- Bank of Japan: Materials on the Issuance of New Bank of Japan Notes
- Bank of Japan: The Bank of Japan’s Approach to Central Bank Digital Currency
- European Central Bank: The Eurosystem Cash Strategy
- Bank for International Settlements: Cash and the Future of Payments
- Business Insider: The Debate About Money in the Age of AI
- MORICASH: Company Philosophy
