> During the pandemic they gutted the new digital cash R&D division because physical cash was booming and they didn’t want their customers to switch to digital cash and spoil the gravy train… oops I guess

I'm surprised that the pandemic caused physical cash to boom, given it's the most germ-prone way to make a payment. Personally I recall seeing a lot more adoption of contactless credit card payments at that time.

I'm willing to bet that people feeling like they're on the precipice of a civilization ending event and the massive uptick in authoritarian rhetoric and action probably had something to do with that.

I suppose, but that's kind of sloppy thinking. After a "a civilization ending event" cash will only remain useful for a little while, until the survivors realize civilization's ended.

I'm reminded of that scene from The Road where they walk over a pile of cash and jewelry like it was nothing: https://youtu.be/WEP25kPtQCQ?t=118.

Magic beans R&D.

This is baffling to me. In my experience, during the pandemic, everyone switched away from using cash, even if they had been using it previously. Most places even stopped taking cash tips.

I think it was a mix of a few governments wanting to refresh their currency coincidentally and central banks printing money (a lot of QE is in fact physical cash!!