Efforts at removing physical cash from circulation are not new.
The credit card made its appearance in our lives in the 1950s and the 1990s saw a proliferation of electronic payments with rise of the internet. The emergence of crypotocurrency blockchain technology, which allows two parties to send information and conduct transactions in a secure manner, is set to help more financial transactions become cashless.
The appearance of Bitcoin and other largely unregulated digital currencies has prompted a number of central banks, especially in Scandanavia to create their own. The question of cryptocurrencies is becoming more urgent for countries like Sweden where cash is fast disappearing and many stores no longer accept it.
Many bank branches no longer take deposits or dispense money, either. The Swedish central lender Riksbank is has project underway called the eKrona to see whether to supply digital central bank money to the public.
Governments have also recognised that turning fiat currencies into cryptocurrencies is a way to prevent the proliferation of digital currencies that are outside their control.
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Read more:
World Government Summit: Where does the future lie for Bitcoin?
South Korea eases back on crypto regulation
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Sweden has been among the most advanced when it comes to creating a cashless society. Last year, the amount of cash in circulation dropped to the lowest level since 1990 and is more than 40 per cent below its 2007 peak, according to Bloomberg.
The declines in 2016 and 2017 were the biggest on record. An annual survey by Insight Intelligence released last month found only 25 per cent of Swedes last year paid in cash at least once a week, down from 63 per cent just four years ago. A full 36 per cent never use cash, or just pay with it once or twice a year.
In response, the central bank is considering whether there’s a need for an official form of digital currency, an e- krona.
A final proposal isn’t expected until late next year, but the idea is that the e-krona would work as a complement to cash, not replace it completely. So successful has the move to digital been in Sweden that Riksbank Governor Stefan Ingves has said that Sweden should consider forcing banks to provide cash to customers.
Brief scores
Barcelona 2
Pique 36', Alena 87'
Villarreal 0
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six
Power: 650hp at 6,750rpm
Torque: 800Nm from 2,500-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Fuel consumption: 11.12L/100km
Price: From Dh796,600
On sale: now
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
