Boom in virtual wallets means cash may be on borrowed time

Beset on all sides by disruptive technologies, cash is becoming less popular as fewer people use notes and coins on a daily basis.

While cryptocurrency proponents distain fiat currency, their decentralized utopia is most likely decades away. Right now, however, mobile payments are a more immediate threat to old-fashioned cash.

The trend is taking place on an accelerated basis in China, as most tech transformations do. The China Internet Network Information Center reported the country had 527 million mobile payment users in December 2017, up 12.3 percent year-on-year.