Proponents of a “cashless society” argue that paper money facilitates corruption, organised crime, and even terrorism. However, critics point out that electronic payments cannot be made without leaving digital traces, potentially allowing the government to snoop into our business even more than it already does. Also, transaction fees for small amounts can be prohibitive, and some people worry we would be making ourselves more vulnerable to cybercriminals and hackers.
Saving with cash is easier for many than with a credit card, the current right to a basic account in Europe can not prevent high fees for card payments and those in need do not have a card reader. However, the European Commission is planning a European-wide law to limit cash in 2018.
From German consumer protection organisation.
" We, as a consumer protection society, see no good reasons for the abolition of cash but, of course, there are stakeholders who are interested in such a thing, such as banks. If we imagine there was no cash then, in the case of a financial crisis, consumers could not come up with the idea of simply withdrawing their money and then placing it under their pillow or in a safe… The “bank runs” we have seen in other countries would no longer be possible. Negative interest rates also become more attractive if consumers cannot withdraw cash…
Of course, some businesses also support this idea, because if everything can only be paid digitally – and because digital transactions are not anonymous – you can harvest a lot of important and interesting data, from which you can build advertising and marketing strategies.
There are, therefore, many stakeholders in the economy interested in abolishing cash for their own benefit.