The United Nations is wholly supportive of a future transition to a cashless society. The UN Capital Development Fund through its ‘Better Than Cash Alliance’ (BTCA) seeks to empower the poor to have access to bank accounts principally through a mobile phone or a debit card. This is an essential service for those who do not have access to a bank branch because they are located in rural areas of any less developed nation-state.  

Using cashless electronic technology for banking in this context has a protective and inclusive role for any person. It will help prevent the theft of physical cash, and serendipitously support women, families and the elderly in rural and regional areas. Microsoft founder Bill Gates is an avid supporter of a cashless society and better access to banking for the world’s poor through modern technology. In the following YouTube video Bill Gates speaks about his philanthropic interest in seeing financial services being made available to the world’s poor.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKBxKCI66o4

The BTCA is financially supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Visa, Citi, the ‘Bankers without Borders’ initiative by the ‘Omidyar Network’ through eBay founders Pierre & Pam Omidyar, MasterCard, USAID, and the UN Capital Development Fund.