The pandemic could have wiped out cash forever. Stores and businesses were closed as shopping went mainly online and people preferred touchless transactions.

“If you were to imagine a scenario where you would effectively eliminate cash, the pandemic is something that you might dream up in a pre-pandemic world,” said Shaun O’Brien, Federal Reserve Financial Services lead policy analyst.

But after a significant drop, cash use leveled off, and it’s holding steady as the third-most-used payments method. In 2022, 70 billion transactions were made with cash.

“The demise of cash has really been overrated,” said Lisa Perlini, the Boston Fed’s senior vice president of Cash Services.

The first episode of Season 5 of the Boston Fed’s podcast, Six Hundred Atlantic, looks how cash use has changed, why demand remains durable, and the Fed’s often misunderstood role in keeping it moving and available to those who need it.

Listen on the Six Hundred Atlantic episode page.