Club: History of Victory

The world leaders in the fight against cash are Scandinavian countries. Economists here are of the opinion that a society without physical money will have significant advantages: low transaction costs, lack of conditions for tax evasion and money laundering, and hence a reduction in the shadow sector of the economy. Norway's central bank reported in 2018 that paper money and coins make up less than 3% of the country's total money supply. And only 10% of monetary transactions in the country are carried out with the help of cash.

Denmark has been pursuing a policy of reducing cash payments for decades: from 1991 to 2015, the share of cash transactions decreased from 83 to 21%. In 2016, the Danish Central Bank began to gradually withdraw cash from circulation. First, the printing of new banknotes was suspended here, then the last mint was closed in the country.

Sweden is also purposefully building an economy in which there is no place for cash. Now the volume of transactions performed using cash is only 1% of the total turnover - this is an absolute record in the world. How did it come about that it was Sweden that became the champion in the fight against cash? The country has been following this path for a long time, but 11 years ago it received an unexpected impetus.

In 2009, a vault of one of the largest collection companies was robbed in Stockholm. The robbers disembarked from a helicopter on the roof of the building and stole about 39,000,000 crowns - the largest robbery in the country. It was organized by 20 people, the whole operation took 20 minutes. The police did not have time to do anything.

A few days later, they caught seven participants in the robbery, including the organizer. But the police never found most of the stolen money. This robbery endangered the entire financial system of the capital, ATMs and banks quickly ran out of bills, and there was nothing to replenish them. A series of robberies swept through the city. Shops and small cafes were damaged, money was taken even from taxi and bus drivers