Cash Decline Concentrates Payment Power

Americans are steadily moving away from cash toward cards and electronic payment rails: Federal Reserve diary data show credit cards reached 34% of payments in 2025 while cash fell to 14%, and a 2026 Pew poll finds 42% of adults made no cash purchases in a typical week. That shift centralizes transactional power with card networks, banks and fintech platforms, changing who controls access, fees, and data about everyday commerce. — A concentrated, cashless payment system raises policy questions about exclusion of unbanked people, merchant fee burdens, privacy/surveillance, and regulatory chokepoints that can be used for economic or speech governance.