A recent CityLab article is about how some cities are citing civil rights in efforts to ban cashless retail transactions. According to the article, “lawmakers behind [bills to ban the business practice of not accepting cash] across the country are concerned that the cashless trend discriminates against low-income residents and people of color, as communities of color have higher percentages of unbanked.” During testimony about a proposed ban in New York City, the deputy political director of the Retail Wholesale Department Store Union argues, “Cashless institutions encourage a FinTech Jim Crow by restricting the places where people of color can shop, eat, and receive basic services. By refusing to serve communities of color, cashless establishments carve out niches in gentrified neighborhoods through cash exclusion in an already unaffordable city.” The phrase “FinTech Jim Crow” caught my eye, and a google search only turned up only one additional article [from December, 2018]: “Why Cash-Free Cafes Are Discriminatory.” I’ll have to be on the lookout for additional references.