如果瑞典成爲世界上第一個無現金社會,那英國會是下一個國家嗎

Getting a round in, dashing through the self-checkout, tapping in on public transport: in the past few years contactless card payments have become a part of daily life. More than 260 million contactless transactions were made in the UK in August, almost 200 per cent more than in the same month last year.

到處轉一轉，快速駛過自助零售系統，按鍵支付公共交通費：在過去的這些年，免觸一卡通繳費已經成爲了日常生活中的一部分。2.6億免觸交易，8月份在英國成爲了現實，幾乎比去年同一月份上漲了200%。

If the UK carries on at this rate, homeless people will have to rethink their requests for spare change. Grandparents everywhere will be writing IOUs for pocket money. The tooth fairy will go out of business. Maybe these are necessary sacrifices as everything moves online, where it can be traced and logged for posterity.

如果英國繼續以這一速率增長，無家可歸的人需要重新想一下他們對於零錢的要求。其他地方的祖父母將需要寫一份“我欠你”的借條來給小孩零用錢了。牙仙子也會失去市場。隨着一切都開始在網上進行，或許這些必要的犧牲可以被追溯，供子孫後代登錄查看。

Or maybe we should fight to keep our pockets jangling. It pays to decide how you feel on the subject, because in Sweden, the government is investing in plans for a digital currency that could mean hard money’s days are numbered everywhere.

也或許我們應該努力奮鬥保持我們零花錢叮叮噹噹的聲音。決定你對這一事件的感覺是很重要的，因爲在瑞典，政府在大力投資數字貨幣計劃，這可能意味着硬通貨在每個地方的日子都屈指可數了。

“The declining use of cash in Sweden means that this is more of a burning issue for us than for most other central banks,” said Cecilia Skingsley, deputy governor of the Riksbank, Sweden’s central bank.

瑞典央行的副行長，塞西莉亞·斯金斯利說：“在瑞典現金使用的減少，對我們瑞典央行意味着是一個比大多數其他中央銀行，都要緊要的問題。”

The amount of notes and coins in circulation in Sweden has fallen by 40 per cent since 2009, driven in part by the decision to eliminate the country’s largest denomination bill.

在瑞典流通的紙幣和硬幣數量自從2009年下降了40%，部分是因爲取消國家最大面額的鈔票流通的決定。

Rather than complaining, Swedes started using less of the second largest bill, the 500-krona note. Now, by some estimates, only a fifth of Swedish retail transactions are conducted in cash. Buses, trains, bars and restaurants all refuse it. Many of the country’s bank branches don’t allow withdrawals or deposits of the hard stuff.

瑞典人並不抱怨，而是開始使用第二大面額的鈔票，500克朗的紙幣。現在，根據一些推測，只有1/5的瑞典零售交易平臺使用現金結算。公交，火車，酒吧和飯店都拒絕現金結算。瑞典許多銀行的分行也不允許存取硬通貨。