In the context of that interview - cash is paper notes (and coins) issued by national Central Bank (named "Tier 1 money, public money"). Then there is electronic balances held by the Commercial banks (named "Tier 2 money, private money") that is convertible to the "Tier 1". (there is also "Tier 3 money" like Paypal and so on) So in this context "cashless" means "without the existing Tier 1 money" and issuing electronic balances as Tier 1 that replace existing notes (that get retired). Given that China, India, Brazil, countries in Africa etc all have the same (Fiat) money system - not sure in what way this is "western" or "mentality" TBH.