[esoterica]

But illegal transactions would still be possible without cash (people pay for drugs on Venmo all the time), just trickier and with a higher likelihood of getting caught. By your logic a cashless society would still be acceptable.

[henrikschroder]

It's the turn-key fascism that's worrying. People buy drugs with Venmo because they're fucking stupid, and because banks and governments don't crack down on it. But they could.

Wikileaks ran into trouble when all the major credit card companies decided to deny payments to them.

Cash ensures that all transactions are allowed, anonymous, and untraceable, no matter the nature of the transaction, no matter society's morals, and no matter who's currently in charge of government.