“Amidst concerns over the ongoing spread of the coronavirus , at least one national grocery chain has begun limiting the use of cash in some stores.Last Friday, reports began to surface on social media of Whole Foods stores restricting or even eliminating cash payments. The grocers’ move comes as health experts cited by CBS warn that the disease can be transmitted on paper money, and as the Federal Reserve has decided to delay the processing of dollars repatriated from Asia.”

“Tesco has joined the growing cash-free revolution in the UK after opening its first cashless store in central London. The outlet offers shoppers a range of electronic payment methods via self-service tills but does not accept notes or coins. The store, which Tesco says is planned to be a permanent outlet, is aimed at shoppers in a hurry. Payment methods include contactless cards, debit and credit cards, Apple Pay and Tesco Pay+.”

“This week, when I got word that the latter concept was expanding into something called Amazon Go Grocery, complete with a much larger selection of items to buy, I knew what I had to do. I had to steal from its newest product line, one that’s much harder to carefully track with a mix of RGB and infrared sensors: produce. Could I pilfer some plums? Wrangle some watermelon? Bag a banana?”

“Vivint Smart Home Arena, the home of the National Basketball Association’s Utah Jazz, is going fully cashless following a successful trial late last year. Beginning January 18, the sports and entertainment venue will only accept credit, debit and prepaid cards, and mobile payments for sales at all food and beverage points of purchase, the box office, and Utah Jazz Team Store.”

“There has been a lot of buzz surrounding Amazon Go ever since the first checkout-free store opened its doors in Seattle in 2016. Recently, the retail giant announced that it will be rolling out the concept internationally, and it is already setting the tone of what payments will look like in the future. Last year, off the back of an Amazon partnership announcement, Zip Money’s share price lifted by 24.1 percent. When we think about the Amazon Go model, there are many game changing aspects: the ability to completely avoid queues, the unique sensation of walking out of a store “without paying”, and the sophisticated technology that invisibly calculates transactions. But is this really the future we are headed towards?”

“According to Grabango chief business officer Andrew Radlow, computer vision is a key distinction that separates Grabango from Amazon Go. Go stores use scales, shelf cameras and sensor technology to track items when they are taken off the shelf. Grabango’s computer vision technology uses small cameras that track when each product in the store is taken or replaced. These cameras are hidden inside a casing in the ceiling, similar to a fluorescent light fixture, called a G-rail. The technology automatically tallies up your items as you move through the store, enabling you to pay through the Grabango app when you leave the store, or”

“In 2015, a year before the controversial note ban, Akodara embarked on an attempt to become India’s first “ digital village .” It participated in a public-private initiative between the government and ICICI Bank , one of the country’s largest lenders, to test how successfully 100 rural towns could be taught digital literacy in order to process more aspects of their life, including their finances, online.”