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Retailers will not be able to refuse cash payments in New York if Governor Kathy Hochul signs off on legislation that has passed both houses of the state legislature.

Legislation sponsored in the Senate by Senator James Sanders Jr. () and in the Assembly by Assembly member Catalina Cruz () would prohibit food retail and retail establishments from refusing cash, and impose civil penalties for breaches.

The bill, which proposes fines of $250 for the first offense and up to $500 for each succeeding breach, aims to prevent discrimination against those who are unbanked or lack financial stability and need to pay with cash because they lack access to a credit card or bank account.

“In an increasingly digital society, we must not forget those who rely on cash as their only means of payment”, said Senator Joseph Addabbo, Jr, co-sponsor of the bill.

“By prohibiting businesses from refusing cash, we ensure that purchasing of goods and services are open and accessible to all – especially the most vulnerable members of our community.”

Cash is king

If Governor Hochul signs the bill into law, the state will join New York City among the jurisdictions that have passed and implemented legislation prohibiting cash refusal.

Senator Sanders said: “Cash is still king for many New Yorkers who live paycheck to paycheck or who simply don’t have access to credit or banking services.”

In March 2019, Philadelphia became the first American city to ban most cashless stores, under its , and the same month the New Jersey legislature passed , a bill banning cashless stores.

Fears have been growing of the negative implications of cashless societies, especially in terms of financial inclusion, given that poorer, more vulnerable people are more likely to be reliant on cash.

As covered by �鶹��ý, the Australian government is consulting on introducing a cash mandate for purchases of essential items such as food, fuel and medicine, from January 2026.

The authorities are concerned about meeting the needs of those who rely on cash, including people in regional areas and those unable to use digital payments.

In May 2025, meanwhile, the warned the UK was “sleepwalking into a situation where cash is no longer widely accepted” unless action was taken to ensure more businesses accepted cash.

“The government is in the dark on how widely cash is being accepted and that is completely unsustainable,” said committee chair Dame Meg Hillier. 

“We are at risk of a two-tier society where the most vulnerable bear the brunt and this needs to be a wake up call.”

Operational resilience

Alongside fears of financial exclusion, there are also concerns about operational resilience in societies that have completely moved over to digitised payments systems.

A series of outages at British retail banks has highlighted the costs as well as the scale of disruption that can be caused in payments systems if digital technology breaks down either by accident or due to malicious activity.

The most significant outage was experienced by Barclays between January 31 and February 2, 2025, with customers forced to fall back on traditional methods of banking as they lost access to their online accounts.

Barclays, which has more than 13m digitally active UK customers, estimated that it will pay out between £5m and £7.5m to those affected by the incident.

In addition, in March 2025 a global outage hit Mastercard and highlighted the risk of over-reliance on international card schemes.

As covered by �鶹��ý, the Swedish Riksbank’s latest , published in March 2025, warned that the resilience of Sweden’s payment system is under pressure due to global instability.

In the report, the central bank highlighted the need for offline card payments and continued access to cash as critical safeguards in times of increasing uncertainty, to ensure people can still pay for essential goods during crises.

The rapid decline in cash usage in the country has also prompted the Riksbank’s deputy governor to advocate for new regulations to safeguard its status. 

, Aino Bunge stressed the importance of cash as an inclusive payment option, and echoed other Nordic central banks, such as Norway’s Norges Bank, in saying that it is a vital backup during crises or conflicts.

"The Riksbank has long taken the view that shops selling essential goods should be obliged to accept cash,” Bunge said. 

“It is therefore very positive that the inquiry presents proposals that are in line with this."