Money is just data, …edit…
And the issue with data is first, last, and always: How trustworthy is it?
That was true when emperors stamped their portraits into bits of shiny stuff, so you could trust they were a known amount of gold. It was even true more recently, when every two-bit bank printed their own paper money and you needed to refer to a big-book for the safe amount to discount —
i.e. to distrust — any particular notes. Until we went back to governments putting portraits of trustworthy folks on the money. Because we repeatedly find we cannot trust businesses we cannot see, but at least when government certifies the money we're all playing by the same rules.
Cook's offhand quip fools folks into thinking money's all about inconvenient coins and bills and we're so highly evolved we don't need them. But we do need a solidly trustworthy unit of exchange, and always will. When that become as vaporous as airline points, and your physical store of value is seized in forcelosure, let him tell us again how far we've progressed.
Money has nothing to do with bits, bytes, or paper. It's about the trust we have in the solidity of the system that backs whatever it is we're exchanging. We saw back in 2008 just how unworthy of our trust that system can be. Parlour magic is the stock in trade of computer geeks like Cook, Gates, Jobs and the rest and we all fall for it. But let's never forget that stuff only works as long as we can keep the lights on. And who is doing that? That's what money is about, but money's not what he was talking about.
But since we're actually talking about cash, I patiently wait for the ineptly installed POS machine to wake up, redundantly warn me not to touch my card as it goes through its mandatory routine, tediously offering the same options I always refuse, and eventually responding to inputs that identify (there's that trust thing again) me, and my happiness at the amount and only then authorize the printing of a receipt.
I can remember how even children used to be able to conduct cash transactions, hand you the register tape and accurately count back your change in less time. And when they 'identified' you, it was to greet you, not suspect you. Frankly, the only 'convenience' I experience is not having to hit an ATM before shopping, but I pay over and over in slower checkouts until all that benefit has long been used up.
Quick questions: How much of the physical infrastructure that we trust with our bit$ and byte¢ do we suppose is manufactured onshore? And as has been mentioned, how will cashless pooning work? Or anything beyond the power grid?