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Comment by tensor | Hacker News Reader

"I live in a place that hasn't seen progress and still uses physical cash." Isn't really useful to those of us who live in places that don't even use cash. Also, I don't really want to go back to using physical cash thanks.

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Progress, as in, you've gained the privilege of third parties tracking every payment and every bill you've split with friends, sure.

Let's be realistic; payment services are convenient, but not advantageous in every single way.

I don’t have an issue with my bank tracking my purchases. In fact I like it. Not everyone wants to live in a constant state of looking over your shoulder. If we’ve reached that point the problem is not the banks, but the other parties. Going back to old technology is not a solution I want. Regulating the problem areas would be better.

Fully agree, I like not having to deal with cache. Fully digital payments and contactless payment are so much nicer than cash (in my opinion). I just want to be able to do contactless payments on my GrapheneOS phone and not get locked out of it because Google decided it's a good way of forcing out competition.

Hasn’t seen progress? Portland has a fantastic transit system and all the amenities you could want from a modern city. Yet cash is common, a few of the best places are even cash only.

I’ve found more places going cashless in Portland than are cash only. The one cash only place I regularly visited for decades finally gave in and started accepting cards.

That is strange, because Oregon has required cash to be allowed as a form of payment statewide since 2022 (SB 1565). There are a few exceptions but most public facing businesses are covered. Maybe they will do cash if asked but they don’t make it obvious?

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