Oh yes I have noticed the "middlemen" given my background and experience as I have formerly been one multiple times since the mid 90s. My efforts are currently undercutting the middlemen and their proliferation as the number of payments companies alone in the last few years has exploded as has fees which are crushing even established brands which have little to no understanding when it comes to payments.

If one did not already know online payments originated and was perfected from adult content consumption just as many technologies were but history shuns the stigma - the stories I have. Worth the watch > en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Men_(film)

Maybe we just go back to trading farm animals? j/k

Who said anything about abolishing cash or requiring the blessing of a third party?

All I said is to have a right to be able to exchange cash for prepaid cards, for places that only accept cards. And to be clear, that should be a right that doesn't require any third-party "blessing".

Obviously, if you can exchange cash for a card, then cash still exists as legal tender.

Ok, businesses go all card-only, saving money on operations and security, on the assumption that everyone either has a card, or can buy a pre-paid one at their local post office. The latter - the cash for card exchange - is a cash flow in one direction, from people to the post. But how does cash flow back to the people again?

Obviously, if businesses refuse to accept cash to save themselves some hassle, they'll also refuse to pay salaries in cash, to save themselves further hassle.

The incentives are there, and it's clear to me that if you simulate it forward a couple cycles, cash will be all but gone - with the remaining few businesses and people using physical money automatically considered suspicious.

Huh? You get cash from the bank, just like you do today. The ATM, 99% of the time.

What businesses pay salaries in cash?

My entire life, I've gotten nearly all my cash from the bank, except for tips when I worked in the service industry.

Again, this isn't about abolishing cash. It's just about enabling businesses to go card-only if they so choose.

What businesses pay salaries in cash today? Hourly workers are sometimes paid cash, but salaried employees are almost exclusively paid via check or direct deposit. Cash enters the system from people making cash withdrawals from banks.