There’s no way this is an improvement over cash when it comes to privacy. It’s an onramp to a vast surveillance state that might be benevolent now but can’t be counted on to stay that way indefinitely. In fact, building the infrastructure to make authoritarian control easy, also makes it more likely.

It’s not hard to imagine a future where Dutch farmers go to a gas (or charging) station on their way to a protest find they suddenly can’t use their money.