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2019 Cash Alternative Survey Results

Author

Listed:
  • Kim Huynh
  • Gradon Nicholls
  • Mitchell Nicholson

Abstract

The role of cash in Canadians’ lives has evolved over the past decade. During this period, two diverging trends have emerged in Canada: the use of cash for transactions at the point of sale has declined, but overall demand for cash has increased. The 2019 Cash Alternative Survey was designed to study these trends and update the Bank of Canada’s understanding of Canadians’ use of cash. We asked Canadians about their cash holdings, planned future use of cash and views on how they would be affected if cash were to disappear. In addition to declining cash use, the emergence of privately issued digital currencies has motivated many central banks to conduct research into central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). We contribute to the Bank of Canada’s research on CBDC by monitoring Canadians’ use of cash and their adoption of digital payment methods. We find that Canadians’ cash holdings are stable and the adoption of cryptocurrencies remains limited and concentrated in a few sub-demographics. Moreover, we find that few Canadians plan to stop using cash entirely and that a considerable share of them would find the disappearance of cash problematic.

Suggested Citation

  • Kim Huynh & Gradon Nicholls & Mitchell Nicholson, 2020. "2019 Cash Alternative Survey Results," Discussion Papers 2020-8, Bank of Canada.
  • Handle: RePEc:bca:bocadp:20-8
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Annamarie Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2005. "Financial Literacy and Planning: Implications for Retirement Wellbeing," Working Papers wp108, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    2. Christopher Henry & Kim Huynh & Gradon Nicholls & Mitchell Nicholson, 2019. "2018 Bitcoin Omnibus Survey: Awareness and Usage," Discussion Papers 2019-10, Bank of Canada.
    3. Walter Engert & Ben Fung & Björn Segendorf, 2019. "A Tale of Two Countries: Cash Demand in Canada and Sweden," Discussion Papers 2019-7, Bank of Canada.
    4. Marco Angrisani & Kevin Foster & Marcin Hitczenko, 2020. "The 2016 and 2017 Surveys of Consumer Payment Choice: Technical Appendix," Consumer Payments Research Data Reports 2018-4, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    5. Codruta Boar & Henry Holden & Amber Wadsworth, 2020. "Impending arrival - a sequel to the survey on central bank digital currency," BIS Papers, Bank for International Settlements, number 107.
    6. Christopher Henry & Kim Huynh & Angelika Welte, 2018. "2017 Methods-of-Payment Survey Report," Discussion Papers 18-17, Bank of Canada.
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    Cited by:

    1. Joann Jasiak & Peter MacKenzie & Purevdorj Tuvaandorj, 2023. "Digital Divide: Empirical Study of CIUS 2020," Papers 2301.07855, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2024.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bank notes; Central bank research; Digital currencies and fintech; Econometric and statistical methods;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C1 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General
    • C12 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Hypothesis Testing: General
    • C9 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments
    • E4 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates
    • O5 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies
    • O51 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - U.S.; Canada

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