This is the first stage of something I have long been predicting in much stronger terms. To refresh, in no particular order, and likely with considerable overlap:
1) Bank holidays. In the Great Depression (GD), some of these lasted from 3 to 300 days. You might have a million dollars in the bank, but have to beg for a cup of coffee. And just a few years ago, a new law was passed so that banks, *for their own reasons* can declare a holiday for up to two weeks. Not just unable to withdraw cash, you cannot use bank instruments like checks and debit cards.
2) Cash runs. Currently, less than 4% of American daily retail trade is backed by physical cash. If people suddenly want their money out of the bank, branches will run out of cash in minutes.
3) The BEP cannot print faster, nor can it print higher denominations than $100 bills. Most of what it prints are $1 bills, and most $100 bills are sent overseas. However, virtual money on computers can be “made” instantly. This may result in an odd phenomenon.
A currency split. If there are bank holidays and cash runs, so many people will insist on cash for transactions that its value will skyrocket, yet the virtual currency will enter ultra-inflation. Say a dollar in paper being worth more than $100 billion on computer.
And again, in the GD, we learned that if there wasn’t enough currency about, deflation is king. The saying of the time was, “You could get a pound of hamburger for a nickel, but nobody had any nickels.”
Everyone should have some cash on hand....IMO, the more the better.
My dad wasn't an educated man (and I doubted him for years) but he said exactly the same thing. During the depression, even rich people didn't have any/much money.