Time is running out for the old-fashioned wallet.(telegraph.co.uk)

The old-fashioned wallet will be obsoletein the US within four years, an electronic payments company has claimed.

Scott Thompson, the president of PayPal, said: "We believe that by 2015 digital currency will be accepted everywhere in the US – from your local corner storeto Walmart.

"We will no longer need to carry a wallet," said Mr Thompson, whose California-based company profits from customers switching from physical money to payments online and over mobile phone.

"Consumers are increasingly giving up traditional payment methods," including cash, cheques and even debit cards, Mr Thompson said.

Earlier this week Harrods became the latest major retailer to stop accepting cheques as payment.

Mr Thompson made the comments in a blog post to mark what the company claimed was its 100 millionth subscriber.

The company has launched a publicity campaign in which five people in San Francisco will attempt to pay for all their purchases with digital currency, despite the fact many shops still do not accept it.

PayPal has said it expects to process $3 billion (￡1.9 billion) worth of payments over mobile phones this year.

(Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)

某電子支付公司稱，傳統的錢包四年內將會在美國過時。

貝寶公司總裁斯科特湯普森說：“我們相信到2015年，數字貨幣將遍及整個美國——從當地的街角商店到沃爾瑪連鎖超市隨處可見。”

湯普森先生說，“我們以后就不用揣著錢包出門了”。在線支付和手機支付正取代有形的貨幣支付方式，而他駐加利福尼亞的公司便從顧客的這一轉變中獲利。

湯普森先生說：“顧客正逐漸放棄傳統的支付方式”，包括現金、支票、甚至借記卡。

本周早些時候，英國哈羅斯百貨公司成為最新的一家拒收支票付款的大型零售商。

湯普森先生在一篇紀念公司用戶突破一億的博客文章中發表了上述評論。

該公司開展了一項宣傳活動，活動中五名來自舊金山的參與者將嘗試只用電子貨幣來付款，盡管很多商店仍未能接受電子支付方式。

貝寶公司表示，他們期待今年手機支付交易額能有達到30億美元（19億英鎊）。

來源：中國日報   編輯：許銀娟