Dear Subscriber,

A new report from the supermarket chain, The Co-op, has entered the dangerous waters of forecasting the death of cash. ‘What’s the data like?’ I imagine you asking as your eyes slowly roll to the back of your head. Well, funnily enough, the report opens by stressing that ‘cash is still king’ and actually underlines the most appealing features of cash such as security, simplicity and so on. But it also points out the incredible speed at which more people are starting to pay with mobiles and contactless cards. Our lead article explores whether reports such as these, which predict a near-future demise of cash, are starting to have merit. After all, it’s fine to say that people love to use cash, but if massive chains such as The Co-op, which has 12,000 contactless payment points, continue to push the technology, consumers will find themselves adapting to it. But then it also helps that the technology is extremely convenient.

In the rest of our newsletter, an infographic that traces how British payments have changed in the Queen’s 90 years, Yandex.Money rolls out NFC payments in Russia and two companies partner on what could be a game-changer for wearables.

Enjoy!

A new report by the supermarket chain, which has 2,800 stores and almost 12,000 contactless paypoints, is predicting that mobile payments will lead the contactless charge and account for 65% of all transactions by 2025.

Unpicking the complexities of international contracts is the topic of this ONPEX module, their third written exclusively for PaymentEye.

Starting with the day of her birth, April 21st, 1926, this infographic traces how the changes in royalty changed British coins and banknotes. How 1966 wasn’t only a momentous year in British football but also in payments as Barclays introduced the first UK credit card (a month before the World Cup Final) and the introduction of the Chip-and-PIN cards, which had their very own birth recently.

Users of Russian online payments giant Yandex will now be able to make contactless payments on their phones. Or Android users will, at least. The firm is using near field communications (NFC) to let customers tap and pay on the metro, supermarkets and other public places.

MC10, Inc. is a healthcare technology company specializing in stretchable body-worn computing systems has partnered with PCH, which designs custom product solutions for startups and Fortune 500 companies, on creating tattoo-like wearable patches that can make cashless payments.