Cashless Citizens Briefly Rediscover The Ancient Art Of Having Cash
A Revolut service disruption left app, card, transfer and withdrawal users confronting the shocking possibility that money may need to exist somewhere.
LONDON, Millions of Revolut customers lost access to parts of the app, cards, transfers and cash withdrawals during a service disruption on Tuesday. Across the cashless world, people began looking for money they could actually hold.
Network and error issues involving Google Cloud services may have played a part. Users watched loading screens with the concentration normally reserved for medical test results, then refreshed their apps until their phones appeared to develop opinions.
For people raised to think of cash as an embarrassing story from the age of coat pockets, this created a practical problem. If the card fails, the app fails and the cash machine fails, what is the wallet for?
“I have discovered that my wallet is mainly a museum of failed intentions.”
The Department of Temporary Financial Archaeology says the answer is generally a loyalty card, three expired receipts and a photograph of a cat owned by somebody the wallet holder no longer speaks to. Its acting curator, Elsie Plover, said the department would accept coin donations, provided donors could identify them without calling a specialist.
That was the state of the emergency. At one office, staff gathered around a colleague carrying a ten-pound note and regarded it as they might a newly found manuscript. A man nearby said he had last seen cash in 2019, although he could not say with confidence whether it had been a banknote or a theatre ticket.
Urban payment systems are built to make money feel as far away from money as possible. Yet every tap, transfer and colour-coded balance still relies on a great many computers agreeing that coins exist somewhere, which is apparently enough to keep everyone settled.
By afternoon, customers had received a mild lesson in technological humility. The cashless future is cash stored elsewhere, behind passwords, a network connection and a small spinning wheel. The Department advised the public to remain calm and, if required, ask an older relative how pockets work.