Are We Close to Abolishing Physical Money and Bank Cards?

The era of traditional money is long gone. After the arrival of bank cards, and now the option of contactless payment, we find ourselves with a new alternative option to make payments: our hands.In this slogging thread, our tech community discussed how implementing a microchip can be an innovative option instead of our bank cards. We are already used to pulling out our contactless cards, so how is this new choice different?This Slogging thread by Sara Pinto, Mónica Freitas and Jack Boreham occurred in slogging's official #technology channel, and has been edited for readability.

Are we closer to not needing physical money or even bank cards at all?

"Patrick Paumen causes a stir whenever he pays for something in a shop or restaurant."

"This is because the 37-year-old doesn't need to use a bank card or his mobile phone to pay. Instead, he simply places his left hand near the contactless card reader, and the payment goes through."

"He is able to pay using his hand because back in 2019 he had a contactless payment microchip injected under his skin."

"The procedure hurts as much as when someone pinches your skin," says Mr Paumen.

"A microchip was first implanted into a human back in 1998, but it is only during the past decade that the technology has been available commercially."

"And when it comes to implantable payment chips, British-Polish firm, Walletmor, says that last year it became the first company to offer them for sale."

"The implant can be used to pay for a drink on the beach in Rio, a coffee in New York, a haircut in Paris - or at your local grocery store," says founder and chief executive Wojtek Paprota. "It can be used wherever contactless payments are accepted."

This company's chip "weights less than a gram and is little bigger than a grain of rice", and it's completely safe since it has regulatory approval.

So, my question to this community is: would you adopt this technology?

You can find in this news that a survey from last year questioned more than 4 000 people from the UK and Europe, and 51% said they would consider this.

What about you? Mónica Freitas Jack Boreham Abeer Limarc AmbalinaSara Pinto, on one hand, no more wallets! Which makes it convenient. But on another hand, actually having a chip on me seems too much into the sci-fi-ish. Would you?Mónica Freitas, it sounds so futuristic that I even thought they were joking haha. I don't know if I would try. It's convenient, I like the idea of not having to bring cards around. But is it absolutely necessary? It's good that you don't need a wallet, but bringing out your card has little to no work haha. I feel like this is a bit extravagantSara Pinto, I think more and more we're following down the path of convenience and speed. We want everything to come easy and fast to us (that's probably why we no longer have the concentration levels to watch a 10min video for example; TikTok made us prefer the 30sec videos). So having a chip with your payment details is just another way of making life easier though only on not important aspects, IMO.

Mónica Freitas, I couldn't agree more. We're getting used to having everything quick and with no issue. Maybe because of what every social media tells us, as you said. There's a product/app to facilitate every task we have to do.

About the chip, we can't deny it is helpful, but definitely not crucial or revolutionary

Sara Pinto oh absolutely! There are some many more areas that require technological advances - health for instance. It's a great invention but, as you said, not crucialMónica Freitas, I hope they can apply this kind of technology in a more useful manner. For example, a chip that has all your medical information. I don't know if it's farfetched, but that would be really useful in emergenciesSara Pinto that'd be a great use! Even for allergies and health conditions information.Personally I cannot wait until physical money is gone. Who needs it! Not meI would love to be a human bank card. At least when I become rich I can say I actually look like a million bucks 😂Jack Boreham, maybe I'm still a bit old-fashioned and can't wrap my head around this, but I love the enthusiasm!I have to admit it would look pretty could to just swipe your hand, and it's done! It's impressive how a chip inside of us can have this effect. I can't wait to see what they will do with this type of technology