The weaknesses of a digital economy

No Silver Bullet on Closing the Digital Access Gap | Economic Empowerment | GZERO Media

Is there any downside to going cashless?

Not really, but there are challenges, Usman Ahmed, head of Global Public Affairs and Strategic Research at PayPal, says during a livestream conversation on closing the global digital gap hosted by GZERO in partnership with Visa.

On the one hand, digitizing payment allows the creation of other financial services around it — mainly access to finance for the unbanked. On the other, there are privacy and security concerns, although these also exist with cash.

Overall, though, Ahmed believes that going digital is something that nobody will solve on their own. Governments and the private sector need to work together, and digital access is useless without digital literacy.

More from GZERO Media

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivers the State of the European Union address to the European Parliament, in Strasbourg, France, September 10, 2025.
REUTERS/Yves Herman

While the European Union has never been more critical, it is also facing a trifecta of divisive challenges.

In this episode of “Local to global: The power of small business,” host JJ Ramberg sits down with Chapin Flynn, Senior Vice President of Transit and Urban Mobility at Mastercard, and Mark Langmead, Director of Revenue & Compass Operations at TransLink in Vancouver, to explore how cities are making transit easier, faster, and more seamless for riders–an approach known as frictionless urban mobility.