Old Soldiers Never Die: They Just Fade Away: Sweden Is Cash Free

Niklas Arvidsson; Jonas Hedman; Björn Segendorf

doi:10.1007/978-3-031-89933-1_6

Old Soldiers Never Die: They Just Fade Away: Sweden Is Cash Free

Niklas Arvidsson, Jonas Hedman^*, Björn Segendorf

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Digitalization

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Article in proceedings › Research › peer-review

Abstract

Money is one of humanity’s most important innovations. Over the last decades, money has gradually changed from physical artifacts to digital representations. This process is evident in everyday life as societies move towards a cash-free society. Sweden is the frontrunner, where the value of cash in circulation fell by more than 50% from 2007 to 2017, and the development seems irreversible since people prefer to pay digitally. We define a cash-free society as one in which cash is no longer a generally accepted medium of exchange. Drawing upon a survey of 741 merchants and secondary data from public sources, we identified that Sweden was cash-free on March 24th, 2023.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Enterprise Applications, Markets and Services in the Finance Industry : 12th International Workshop, FinanceCom 2024, Copenhagen, Denmark, October 10, 2024, Revised Selected Papers
Editors	Jonas Hedman, Rob Gleasure, Madhushi Bandara
Number of pages	8
Place of Publication	Cham
Publisher	Springer
Publication date	2025
Pages	81-88
ISBN (Print)	9783031899324
ISBN (Electronic)	9783031899331
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-89933-1_6
Publication status	Published - 2025
Event	FinanceCom 2024 - 12th International Workshop: Enterprise Applications, Markets and Services in the Finance Industry - Copenhagen Business School, Frederiksberg, Denmark Duration: 10 Oct 2024 → 10 Oct 2024 Conference number: 12 https://www.tilmeld.dk/financecom2024/conference

Workshop

Workshop	FinanceCom 2024 - 12th International Workshop
Number	12
Location	Copenhagen Business School
Country/Territory	Denmark
City	Frederiksberg
Period	10/10/2024 → 10/10/2024
Internet address	https://www.tilmeld.dk/financecom2024/conference

Series	Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing
Volume	541
ISSN	1865-1348

Keywords

Cashless society
Cost of paying
Medium-of-exchange

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Cite this

Arvidsson, N., Hedman, J., & Segendorf, B. (2025). Old Soldiers Never Die: They Just Fade Away: Sweden Is Cash Free. In J. Hedman, R. Gleasure, & M. Bandara (Eds.), Enterprise Applications, Markets and Services in the Finance Industry: 12th International Workshop, FinanceCom 2024, Copenhagen, Denmark, October 10, 2024, Revised Selected Papers (pp. 81-88). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-89933-1_6

Arvidsson, Niklas ; Hedman, Jonas ; Segendorf, Björn. / Old Soldiers Never Die: They Just Fade Away : Sweden Is Cash Free. Enterprise Applications, Markets and Services in the Finance Industry: 12th International Workshop, FinanceCom 2024, Copenhagen, Denmark, October 10, 2024, Revised Selected Papers. editor / Jonas Hedman ; Rob Gleasure ; Madhushi Bandara. Cham : Springer, 2025. pp. 81-88 (Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, Vol. 541).

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abstract = "Money is one of humanity{\textquoteright}s most important innovations. Over the last decades, money has gradually changed from physical artifacts to digital representations. This process is evident in everyday life as societies move towards a cash-free society. Sweden is the frontrunner, where the value of cash in circulation fell by more than 50% from 2007 to 2017, and the development seems irreversible since people prefer to pay digitally. We define a cash-free society as one in which cash is no longer a generally accepted medium of exchange. Drawing upon a survey of 741 merchants and secondary data from public sources, we identified that Sweden was cash-free on March 24th, 2023.",

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Arvidsson, N, Hedman, J & Segendorf, B 2025, Old Soldiers Never Die: They Just Fade Away: Sweden Is Cash Free. in J Hedman, R Gleasure & M Bandara (eds), Enterprise Applications, Markets and Services in the Finance Industry: 12th International Workshop, FinanceCom 2024, Copenhagen, Denmark, October 10, 2024, Revised Selected Papers. Springer, Cham, Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol. 541, pp. 81-88, FinanceCom 2024 - 12th International Workshop, Frederiksberg, Denmark, 10/10/2024. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-89933-1_6

Old Soldiers Never Die: They Just Fade Away: Sweden Is Cash Free. / Arvidsson, Niklas; Hedman, Jonas; Segendorf, Björn.
Enterprise Applications, Markets and Services in the Finance Industry: 12th International Workshop, FinanceCom 2024, Copenhagen, Denmark, October 10, 2024, Revised Selected Papers. ed. / Jonas Hedman; Rob Gleasure; Madhushi Bandara. Cham: Springer, 2025. p. 81-88 (Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, Vol. 541).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Article in proceedings › Research › peer-review

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Arvidsson N, Hedman J, Segendorf B. Old Soldiers Never Die: They Just Fade Away: Sweden Is Cash Free. In Hedman J, Gleasure R, Bandara M, editors, Enterprise Applications, Markets and Services in the Finance Industry: 12th International Workshop, FinanceCom 2024, Copenhagen, Denmark, October 10, 2024, Revised Selected Papers. Cham: Springer. 2025. p. 81-88. (Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, Vol. 541). doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-89933-1_6