Privacy vs 'Progress' - The Case of Cashless Society | Brett Scott [Author]

Thu, Jul 2, 2026, 12:00 AM

Privacy vs 'Progress' - The Case of Cashless Society | Brett Scott [Author] Brett Scott has spent years tracking the slow-motion shift from cash to digital payments, and the industry coalitions, "war on cash" narratives, and convenienc…Brett Scott has spent years tracking the slow-motion shift from cash to digital payments, and the industry coalitions, "war on cash" narratives, and convenience-framing that drive it. He argues cashless infrastructure isn't a neutral upgrade, but a system handing banks, card networks, and big tech unprecedented visibility into daily life. In this talk, Scott turns to what's at stake when cash disappears: privacy as a default, not a privilege. Cash lets you transact without a corporate intermediary logging the who, what, when, and where of your life. Lose it, and every purchase becomes data — tracked, stored, monetizable, weaponizable. He'll challenge the "progress" narrative behind cashlessness, asking who benefits from framing surveillance as convenience, and what we quietly give up once there's no longer an option to simply pay and walk away. Speaker Brett Scott — Author https://brettscott.substack.com/ https://alteredstatesof.money/ X: https://x.com/suitpossum Follow Web3Privacy Now: 🌐 https://new.web3privacy.info 𝕏 https://x.com/web3privacy 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/web3privacy.info 📸 https://www.instagram.com/web3privacy_now/ 🎤 Neocypherpunk Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info/ Subscribe for more talks on privacy, cryptography, digital rights, decentralized infrastructure, and the future of the open web.