Cash will never be abolished. Instead, alternative forms of money will be used. We may see a return to gold and silver coins
I hate this war on cash on a number of fronts not to speak of that it is also a war on anonymity.
But one of the reasons I do not like this attack on large bills is in relation to currency exchange. Sometimes I exchange US dollars for foreign currency at a time the dollar is strong just to have the foreign cash ready for travel to the other country in the future or in expectation of a later weakening of the US dollar (in the second example, yes I could use FOREX investing but the problem is the round lots you often have to buy and maybe you do not want to invest that much)...
What happens is, you often get higher denomination bills in the currency exchange and now you find out later the denomination is no longer accepted.
Take the example of Indian rupees - the 500 and 1000 rupee note is apparently not going to be accepted in India anymore.
1000 Indian rupees is only about $15 US dollars right now. Using the Indian 1000 rupee note has not been uncommon at all because some things have become “expensive” in India even eating in a restaurant and you probably do not want to use a credit card in an Indian restaurant or taxi if you are from the US.
So now I have some Indian 1000 rupee notes that I cannot use... now what?
This isn’t the only country I can example. And I keep some $100 dollar bills in a lockbox for an emergency. What now?
Of late I am stashing 1 dollar coins in $25 rolls. And $10 dollar bills in stacks. Part of retirement planning. I never use my debit card anymore - too risky so I am turning to using cash.