Abolition of cash = abolition of sovereignty

by Marita Brune-Koch

(22 March 2024) It is so convenient to pay with your card, to carry out all your banking transactions from home, to pay on the train or bus with an application. As part of the anti-Covid measures, we were taught that we should make even small payments without cash, since this was more hygienic. Why still use cash? In fact, we are facing strong attempts at the national and international level to eliminate cash. When looking at it more closely, we see that these efforts are not really aimed at the comfort and security of citizens.

What is the current situation?

In Switzerland, everyone is required by law to accept 100 coins and banknotes of an unlimited amount. But this is not absolute either: if a store owner makes it clear to their customers that they only allow cashless payments, the customer must comply.

In EU countries, a maximum of 10,000 euros can be paid in cash. The same amount of cash can be imported into another country. Switzerland supports this EU provision with border controls. In our country, as in many other countries, many bills can no longer be paid in cash: rent, electricity, telephone, audio-visual license fees, taxes, etc. Already today, people without bank accounts are virtually excluded from vital payment transactions. There are hardly any salaries paid in cash anymore. It is becoming more and more difficult to travel by public transport using only cash: there are fewer and fewer points of sale, machines are eliminated, purchasing tickets by card or smartphone is the declared objective. This is not only the case in Switzerland. Already today, this is a huge problem for visually impaired passengers or the elderly – and for anyone whose smartphone has run out of power or who has forgotten it at home.

In Germany, it is prohibited to acquire real estate with cash, and precious metals can only be purchased up to a value of 2000 euros. The possession of gold or silver purchased through a bank account will therefore always be known. When there is a risk of higher taxation or even expropriation, these reserves will only be able to help their owner escape a distress situation to a limited extent.

In our neighbouring country Germany, political parties must always declare their donations, which is why they cannot be made in cash. This has disadvantages in a state that is less and less democratic: a government can thus dry up the opposition.

The plan is to eliminate all cash

Despite promises to the contrary, the trend is towards the abolition of cash. Economist Beat Kappeler is worried: “The International Monetary Fund is publicly spreading the idea that every central bank should issue a digital currency with which people should make their payments. At the same time, cash money would be gradually devalued compared to digital money. In the long term, cash would thus become a second-rate means of payment, which finally no one will want anymore.”¹

India is already the country that has most severely repressed cash by replacing it with the digital rupee. From now on, it is planned to set up a «functionalized currency», that is to say a programmable currency: linked to a place, to a time and/or to a specific purpose.

In Germany too, the “payment card” will be introduced for asylum seekers. They will no longer receive cash, but only a card with which they can purchase certain goods in a specific area. This should have a less attractive effect on them. At first glance, this is an idea that makes sense. But what if it was a test for other parts of the population? For the unemployed, welfare recipients, lower income strata, “politically incorrect” people who are denied a bank account? In Hanover, there is already the “SocialCard”, which is issued to welfare recipients. Is this the model for everyone, except perhaps certain elites? This would also make it possible to control and guide the behaviour of citizens: we would only get money for certain products and only in cases of good behaviour.

The 15-minute city

In Canada, there is already a first 15-minute city. The city is divided into 15 zones and residents in each zone must be able to access everything they need to live in their zone within 15 minutes on foot. But what if they want to move outside of “their zone”? High fees will then be applied, facial recognition cameras installed, and all cash transactions removed. Thus, no one will be able to move without being recognized in an area that is not theirs.² In this case, payment cards would also be very practical: they can be programmed in such a way that “consumers” can only use them in their own area.

But even without a 15-minute city and without a payment card, the situation could be difficult. Every cashless payment is fully traceable, both sender and receiver. This is not really a guarantee of civil and political freedom.

With digital money, the government has access to the citizen’s assets

It is also no longer possible to keep assets in cash for possible emergencies, because if cash is no longer available, the savings kept at home will no longer be worth anything. Economist Kappeler warns against the abolition of cash:

“We are putting our assets in the hands of a few central banks and federal advisors. We place ourselves in a situation which contradicts the ideal of the free citizen facing the State. A look at history, even recent history, shows how quickly governments are willing to strip citizens of their money. This also applies to democratic countries.”³

Kappeler reinforces his warning with examples from recent history: before the introduction of the euro, Italy “took a few per thousand of all bank assets and paid them into the treasury”. This represented several billion transferred to the state. Account holders didn’t notice, because the changeover from the lira to the euro led to differences in value anyway.

Cyprus 2013, banking crisis. The IMF, ECB and European Commission wanted

“all customer assets in Cypriot banks to be converted into shares of these banks. The plan was therefore to expropriate all depositors and savers. The outcry caused by this monstrous act contrary to all rules of the rule of law was too gross for this project to be implemented. But this affair illustrates that the highest monetary authorities do not hesitate to resort to drastic means. The possibilities of controlling bank assets exist, governments can remove, confiscate, tax.”⁴

And what happens in the event of a banking crash? In Greece, the ATMs were closed, cash was only issued in a limited way. “No bank survives a bank panic [Bank Run]” also qualified in the context of the collapse of Credit Suisse. Any bank becomes illiquid in a short time if many customers all want their money back at the same time.

Digital financial complex

The abolition of cash has long since been taken out of the planning stage. As early as 2013, the IMF proposed levying a tax on cash to discourage people from using it.

Finance expert Ernst Wolff explains that the “digital finance complex” is pushing for the abolition of cash around the world. Wealth managers BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street Fidelity are pushing a global agenda. They form a symbiosis with the major IT groups Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet and Emerson. These five companies are immensely powerful, together having a market value of $11.6 trillion.

BlackRock Wealth managers and company are the main administrators of these IT groups. The big banks, which have until now determined the global economy, are being pushed back by this new merger. Wealth managers will dominate the entire global economy in the near future.⁵

Ultimately, a global currency is being planned. The IMF is already working on coordinating different currencies. In the meantime, the ECB shall distribute digital currency to citizens. Ernst Wolff warns: “If the central global currency comes up, there will only be one company in the background that will dominate us all, and its name is BlackRock.”

Cash is freedom

Cash is therefore absolutely necessary to preserve our freedom, our private freedom and that of our nations. Political initiatives have already been launched to guarantee cash. The federal popular initiative “Cash is freedom” has already reached the legal threshold and will soon be put to the people’s vote. It demands that the Swiss Confederation guarantee “that coins and banknotes are available at all times in sufficient quantity” and that the replacement of the Swiss franc by another currency be “subject to the approval of the people and the cantons”. This would put an end to the obligation to use only digital currency and would prevent the Swiss government from joining the euro or a possible global currency without consulting citizens in a popular vote first.

Another federal popular initiative is currently in the process of collecting the required threshold of signatures. It demands that “Anyone who wants to pay with cash should be able to do so!” The aim is to ensure that anyone can pay with cash anywhere, including at public events, in public institutions, on public transport, etc.⁶ The deadline to collect the required threshold of signatures is set on September 21, 2024.

Things are also moving internationally: the Spanish citizen movement Iusticia Europa has launched an initiative against the cashless society.

There are therefore people and groups who recognize the dangers of abolishing cash and who oppose it. They need our support.

(Translation “Swiss Standpoint”)

1  Beat Kappeler in an interview with Katharina Fontana: «For citizens, it becomes dangerous when there is no more cash.» «New Zürcher Zeitung», February 4, 2023.

2 Multipolar News, February 14, 2024

3 Beat Kappeler in an interview with Katharina Fontana: «For citizens, it becomes dangerous when there is no more cash.» «New Zürcher Zeitung», February 4, 2023.

4 idem.

5 Ernst Wolff on the AUF1 website, February 15, 2024

6 Initiative populaire fédérale ‘Qui veut payer en argent liquide doit pouvoir le faire!’ contact@fbschweiz.ch