Free Republic

Australians made $746 million in digital payments in 2018—that number soared to $93 billion in 2022.. A new all-in-one mobile app will offer what its developers claim is Australia’s first end-to-end digital banking platform for the country’s 2.4 million businesses with fewer than 10 employees. The announcement comes a day after Bankwest announced that it is closing 45 of its branches and transitioning the remaining 15 to Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) branches, going digital-only by October 2024. Bankwest is a subsidiary of the Commonwealth Bank, which trades on the Australian Stock Exchange. ... The new app, called Business+, was...

Watch Before That Date! [Major End-Time Event] COP 28 holding a 12 day meeting headed by King Charles, Pope Francis, world political and religious leaders. This will be a Climate Crisis meeting with the goal of having everyone in the world compliant to the World Economic Forum Goals by the year 2030 Watch Before That Date! [Major End-Time Event]This video is rich in prophetic implications that should concern all Christians.

Amazon One: an easier way through your day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH_SVNVIfzk Amazon Rolls Out Palm-Scanning Contactless Payments https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WaOq3wQlxI Amazon One, the new contactless way to pay with your palm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL48Gq2l_NY Amazon launches palm scan payment technology | NewsNation Now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBsm7EcS6Gs Amazon rolls out palm scanning payment at Whole Foods https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf7por-57yI Whole Foods shoppers will soon be able to pay with the palm of their hand https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-KZTrXLlCY You'll soon be able to pay with your handprint at U.S. Whole foods https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVwlkHHxzEM Palm-payment technology coming to all U.S. Whole Foods https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbZW_oCUlsg

Joe Rogan is a comedian, podcast host, and UFC commentator. His podcast, which I do not endorse with the rank language he often uses, has over 15 million subscribers. He’s a major influencer in our culture today and an unbeliever. A couple of weeks ago, he had a guest named Duncan Trussell, who is a stand-up comic, writer, and actor. Surprisingly, they discussed for quite some time how a cashless society is a precursor to enforcing the mark of the beast. During his program, Joe Rogan asks, “How long before we’re a cashless society?” Trussell responded: “Hopefully, forever. It is...

The government will set unlimited fines for banks that fail to protect access to cash, the Treasury said, in a major move against the march towards a cashless society campaigner Nigel Farage has called a “big win”. Banks in the United Kingdom will have to provide free-to-access cash withdrawals and deposits within one mile of a person’s home in urban areas and within three miles in rural areas according to new laws and rules being rolled out by the government to protect cash. Yet some pro-cash campaigners point out the change doesn’t go far enough, as retailers are still perfectly...

LONDON, NatWest CEO Alison Rose stepped down with immediate effect on Wednesday after she admitted to a "serious error of judgment" in discussing former Brexit party leader Nigel Farage's relationship with the bank with a BBC journalist. ... NatWest has faced intense political and media scrutiny over a decision by its private bank Coutts to close Farage's accounts. An internal review .. showed Coutts' wealth reputational risk committee had said his values did not align with the bank's own. ... Some major NatWest investors are also applying pressure on the bank's chair Howard Davies to step down for mishandling the...

CHICAGO (TND) — Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has proposed a solution to end rampant crime in her city: Stop using cash. Lightfoot suggested those afraid of being mugged opt to use digital forms of payments instead. During a debate for Lightfoot’s upcoming race to regain control of her seat, the topic of safety concerns, particularly those of street vendors, came up. We have been in Little Village working with street vendors, understanding what the nature of the crime is, making sure we're doing things in concert with them to help them make sure that their money is secure, not use...

Major US banks, including Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JPMorgan, and others, will push into the digital wallet space in the second half of this year to take on Apple Pay and PayPal. Early Warning Services LLC (EWS), the bank-owned company that operates the money-transfer service Zelle, will be managing the new digital wallet, according to WSJ. The wallet has yet to be named but will be separate from Zelle and allow shoppers to pay at merchants' online checkouts with linked debit and credit cards. EWS plans to offer the new digital wallet later this year and can handle up...

Over the past two years or so, the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) influence over governments and institutions of sovereign nations has become increasingly apparent. Founded in 1971 by German economist Klaus Schwab, the WEF has remained fairly under the radar for decades. However, the organization has been quietly expanding its icy grip around the throats of the world’s population by installing operatives in the upper echelons of governments and corporations. This influence has expanded so far that Schwab and his allies appear to have given up trying to conceal their agenda and even openly gloat about controlling nations’ leaders. When...

While they have us freaking out about “Ukraine,” our overlords are moving swiftly to rendition all of us into the global cyber-gulag of a social credit system, enabled by a digital currency doled out (or not) by the central banking system. This report, from December, 2021, “assess[es] market opportunities for infrastructure support of the social credit market”—i.e., how to make a lot of money helping to set up that cyber-prison. Unless you’re reading it for “market opportunities,” you’re likely to be chilled by its dystopian implications. One way to start fighting this development is to go back to using cash...

Amid the coronavirus crisis, Americans are abandoning cash almost entirely in favor of “tap and go” transactions....Experts say that the growing trend of contactless payments is here to stay even when the pandemic is over. Not wanting to touch anything is having a dramatic impact on consumer habits. Americans are abandoning cash almost entirely in favor of "tap and go" transactions and have finally embraced contactless and digital payment methods after years of reluctance. The U.S. Mint has pleaded with the public to use coins again, but the opportunities to do so are fewer and farther between. Since the start...

Patrick Rooney, Founder of Old School™, discusses the decision by major stores to discourage or even ban the use of cash in certain instances, and how it ties into the elite's desire to usher in a cashless society.

As the markets continue to drop and the U.S. looks to Congress for agreement on a massive stimulus package to save the economy from impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, the newest offer by House Democrats includes a very forward-looking kind of stimulus: the creation of a ‘digital dollar’ and the establishment of ‘digital dollar wallets.’ In what will send shock waves through the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry, particularly for those following central bank digital currencies around the world, this signals the U.S. is serious in establishing infrastructure for a central bank digital currency.

The coronavirus is dominating the news, but it is difficult to know what to believe. Some think the danger is understated, and others think it is overstated. I am 80 years old with respiratory issues, and I would really like to know the truth. Dr. Ben Carson, a member of Pres. Trump’s Coronavirus Task Force, said it “has the potential to be severe.” The key word is “potential.” I take that to mean the threat is not great, but the threat could become great. So, it is a tough call, God is in control, and we are in his hands....

Bank of America Opens a New Window. CEO Brian Moynihan spoke this week about embracing digital payment transactions while moving toward a cashless society. Moynihan made the comments Wednesday during Fortune’s Opens a New Window. Brainstorm Finance conference in New York. The CEO spoke about Zelle, Google Pay and Apple Pay and its increasing popularity. He said Bank of America “will continue to move” toward digital banking transactions. “We want a cashless society,” Moynihan told Fortune’s Shawn Tully. “We have more to gain than anybody from a pure operating costs (perspective).”

Cindi Eckis doesn’t have a smartphone, and she doesn’t want one. “It makes my life simpler,” the Cheektowaga retiree said. But sticking with her flip phone will make it tougher for her and other low-tech motorists to find a place to park along some streets of downtown Buffalo. A new parking policy being rolled out by city officials adds parking zones where the only way to pay to park is through the Buffalo Roam parking app. Blue "Pay by app only" signs went up earlier this week on Cobblestone District streets. "Pay from your phone," the signs read. "Download Buffalo...

As Sweden moves ever closer to a cashless economy, tourists are starting to complain, according to state promotion agency Visit Sweden.Ewa Lagerqvist, the agency’s chief executive, told Sweden’s TT newswire that Germans, who frequently use cash at home, expect to be able to do so in Sweden as well. “The Germans want to avoid the charges which banks take out on card payments, but they also cite deep-rooted privacy concerns when they consider why they want to be able to use cash,” she said. “For the Brits, it’s more purely the bank charges which annoy them.” Tourists also complain that...

McDonald's, Outback Steakhouse, and several dozen other food and hospitality retailers are using daily paychecks as a means to give low-wage workers more flexibility with their finances. Steve Barha, CEO of Instant Financial, the technology company enabling retailers' move to same-day pay, said the option is partly meant to cater to a preference shared by millennial employees that quick cash is better than waiting two weeks for a lump sum. "Basically, their life is real-time," Barha told Business Insider. "Their communication is real-time. Their transportation is real-time, with Uber and Lyft. So this program really aligns with their real-time life...

link only due to (my) copyright concerns

The push toward a cashless society is becoming more of a shove. Before today I had never heard of “The Visa Cashless Challenge”, but after reading about it I have to say that I am quite alarmed. Visa is trying to “encourage” businesses to go cashless, and one of the ways that they will be doing this is by “awarding up to $500,000 to 50 eligible US-based small business food service owners who commit to joining the 100% cashless quest”. The food industry is still one of the last bastions where cash is used very heavily, and so it makes...