The EU is banning cash
The EU has not banned cash and has no plans to do so. An EU anti-money laundering regulation sets a €10,000 cap on cash payments to businesses in professional transactions from 2027 onward — a targeted measure that does not affect everyday cash use, private transactions, or the right to hold cash.
What we know
A widely circulated claim stated that the EU Parliament had voted to ban all cash payments by 2025. No such vote took place. What the EU did adopt as part of its Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (2024) is a €10,000 EU-wide cap on cash payments made to businesses in professional transactions. This measure applies only to business-to-customer or business-to-business commercial transactions and is scheduled to take effect in July 2027.
Private transactions between individuals remain entirely unaffected. Citizens may hold, withdraw, save, and use any amount of cash they choose. Member states with existing lower cash limits (such as France at €1,000 for residents) may retain those limits.
In parallel, the EU is legislating to protect cash as legal tender. The Digital Euro package includes a regulation on the legal tender of euro banknotes and coins that would, for the first time in EU secondary legislation, codify that accepting cash is mandatory for settling payment obligations. The European Central Bank has described the digital euro as intended to complement cash, not replace it.
The actual EU measure — a transaction limit for large business payments — is a proportionate anti-money-laundering policy consistent with those long-existing in several EU countries. It is similar to cross-border cash declaration requirements that have applied for years. Describing it as a 'cash ban' is a significant distortion.
Common claims
- The EU Parliament voted to ban all cash by 2025False — no such vote occurred; the actual measure sets a €10,000 business transaction limit from 2027
- Buying a car in cash will be illegal in the EU from 2027Partly misleading — cash purchase of a car from a dealership above €10,000 will be restricted; private individual-to-individual sales are unaffected
- The digital euro will replace cashFalse — the ECB explicitly states the digital euro complements cash; EU legislation protects cash as legal tender
- EU citizens will no longer be able to hold or save cashFalse — no restriction on holding, withdrawing, or saving cash has been proposed
Evidence hierarchy
All sources
- EU Cash Ban Claim: What's True and What's MisleadingFake Off (EU fact-checking) · 2026
- Misleading EU 'Cash Ban' Claims Go Viral Following New AML RulesSumsub · 2025
- EU Cash Controls — Taxation and Customs UnionEuropean Commission · 2024
- Cash payment limits in EuropeEVZ (European Consumer Centre Germany) · 2026