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.)

点击查看更多双语新闻

(Agencies)

某电子支付公司称，传统的钱包四年内将会在美国过时。

贝宝公司总裁斯科特汤普森说：“我们相信到2015年，数字货币将遍及整个美国——从当地的街角商店到沃尔玛连锁超市随处可见。”

汤普森先生说，“我们以后就不用揣着钱包出门了”。在线支付和手机支付正取代有形的货币支付方式，而他驻加利福尼亚的公司便从顾客的这一转变中获利。

汤普森先生说：“顾客正逐渐放弃传统的支付方式”，包括现金、支票、甚至借记卡。

本周早些时候，英国哈罗斯百货公司成为最新的一家拒收支票付款的大型零售商。

汤普森先生在一篇纪念公司用户突破一亿的博客文章中发表了上述评论。

该公司开展了一项宣传活动，活动中五名来自旧金山的参与者将尝试只用电子货币来付款，尽管很多商店仍未能接受电子支付方式。

贝宝公司表示，他们期待今年手机支付交易额能有达到30亿美元（19亿英镑）。

来源：中国日报   编辑：许银娟