If there's a Gen Zer on your holiday gift list this year, it may be best to forego one of the quintessential young adult presents: a wallet.

Some 4.4 billion people, or about half of people worldwide, are using digital wallets, with that number expected to grow 35% by 2030, according to tech strategist firm Juniper Research. Adults 24 and younger are most likely to pay with their phones, using them to make 45% of their purchases, according to a 2025 report from the Federal Reserve (across age groups, mobile phones were used for 23% of payments). Cash now accounts for just 14% of all purchases, and is more likely to be used by people older than 55 or in households that made less than $25,000 a year. A McKinsey survey in 2024 found that one in five people in the US and Europe who use digital wallets often go out without bringing a physical one, and in the UK, only 38% of people ages 18 to 24 own a wallet or purse that they see as essential in their daily lives, according to Link Scheme, a nonprofit that works to provide cash access in the UK. People are increasingly ditching cash, with 30% of Americans saying they haven't taken cash out of an ATM in the past month, and 17% saying it's been longer than six months, according to a LendingTree survey.

That shift is changing how they think about the money they spend. For older generations, cash feels real; for younger people, it might as well be Monopoly money. Hailey Moore, a 26-year-old in Los Angeles, tells me she hasn't had a wallet in more than a decade, and rarely carries cash. If she does get some, maybe in a birthday card, it feels like fun money: "If I have cash on me, it's money that doesn't exist," she says. And it disappears quickly. "I can just use this to get myself a little treat."

To younger shoppers, cash has lost its cachet.

Apple Pay arrived 11 years ago, but people were slow to put their credit cards on their phone; tapping a phone didn't seem any better use case than swiping a credit card. That changed largely when contactless payments were favored in the pandemic and Apple Pay became easy to use when online shopping. Now, digital payments and cards are becoming increasingly prioritized. Pennies, which each cost about two pennies to make, went out of print in November. Digital IDs are now accepted at more than 250 US airports for domestic flights. More and more daily activities can be done with just a phone. Oura is even looking into ways to make its smart rings work as wallets and keys.

If I have cash on me, it's money that doesn't exist. I can just use this to get myself a little treat.Hailey Moore, 26

And as digital wallets are used more frequently, people "trust the digital wallet more than they trust cash," says Adam Gray, chief transformation officer at payments tech firm Stax Payments. They're more secure than carrying a physical wallet stuffed with cash and cards. "We're trying to enable as many merchants and places to take it because it's better for everyone."

Historically, people tend to spend more when paying with credit cards than cash. But that might be shifting among Gen Z — a Cash App survey published last month found that 54% of Gen Zers say they're more likely to spend cash thoughtlessly. The money that has already left your bank account or came in a card from your aunt might feel inconsequential, compared to growing numbers on a credit card statement that you'll have to face at the end of the month. Moore also tells me that she mostly uses her debit card, only tapping a credit card for large purchases or those where she knows she'll earn points, like at gas stations and grocery stores. She mostly wants to build credit, and pays off the card early to avoid overspending what's in her bank account.

Shoppers have different feelings about using cash over cards. A 2023 study from the University of Notre Dame found that people prefer to use cash on purchases they feel guilty about. But cards can also lead to quick-dopamine hit spending — researchers at MIT found that using credit cards can activate a reward pleasure sensor in the brain, driving people to become addicted to spending or at least lower the restraints to spending. (The researchers behind this 2021 study did not look at contactless mobile payments, but did say that the ping that followers a purchase made on a phone could serve as a reminder of money spent, and disincentivize tapping with abandon).

Being the first to throw your card onto the check at dinner and max out rewards has become appealing to travelers, but more young people are rapidly adopting buy now, pay later companies like Klarna and Affirm. Last holiday season, Gen Z used BNPL services more than credit cards, according to research from J.D. Power. To the people who use these services, "the payment terms are just much more reasonable and transparent than credit card payment terms," says Sean Gelles, senior director of payment intelligence at J.D. Power. Frances Boyle, a 29-year-old in Seattle, says has used buy-now, pay-later services on clothes. "It's almost a way of justifying the purchase, because I'm like, 'I can't spend over $100 right now. But $20 a month, that doesn't sound that bad."

Data from PayPal shows that BNPL can lead people to spend 91% more at large businesses and 62% more at small businesses. Half of shoppers say they're more likely to complete a purchase when the split payment option is at the checkout. But a frictionless way to buy little things online now can turn into a pesky payment that lasts for months, and even barrel into a big debt down the road.

It might seem convenient to ditch cash, but a digital wallet can't cover everything.

Tori Khutorna, a 28-year-old who lives in Prague, says she doesn't own a wallet anymore — she uses a digital wallet and an app that houses her ID. It all started during the COVID-19 lockdowns with online purchases. "Moving on, I didn't see any real need in having cash." But her plan has hit snags when traveling. Khutorna also says she had to ask a stranger for cash to buy food and then transfer her the money when she was in Ukraine and a major power outage took out a neighborhood's card payment options. Once, while in Italy, she couldn't buy a bus ticket because a card machine was broken. She was fined for not having a ticket (the fare enforcer, conveniently, had a device that allowed her to use Apple Pay to settle up her fine instantly). "Sometimes, I feel really out of touch with reality" without cash, she tells me. When she sees a nice wallet for sale, she sometimes feels drawn to buy it. "Then I think, for what?"

For the young people saying goodbye to wallets, the world may soon have to catch up.

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Amanda Hoover is a senior correspondent at Business Insider covering the tech industry. She writes about the biggest tech companies and trends.

• Kelluu, a Finnish startup, is developing low-cost hydrogen airships that can fly for up to 12 hours.
• They've recently attracted attention from NATO, securing a deal with a member for trials.
• The airships are built near Russia and designed to withstand jamming and icy conditions.

In less than 10 seconds, Kelluu's silver airships can soar from the ground to high above eastern Finland's treelines, their motors puttering and their noses pointed skyward.

Gas blimps were first invented in the 19th century, but the Scandinavian startup is betting on a modern version of the old concept to help the West guard its territory.

Kelluu, a Finnish company located about 50 miles from the Russian border, is launching small, propeller-driven airships filled with hydrogen, which it believes can fill a gap in battlefield and border surveillance.

The startup is already finding success with NATO, being the first to secure a deal with a Western nation through a new innovators' program run by the alliance.

Militaries or law enforcement agencies could equip a fleet of such remotely piloted airships with cameras and sensors, rotating them to monitor regions around the clock. Kelluu said its airships can be automated, meaning a human operator only has to set a target destination.

Airships won't be easily survivable on an immediate frontline, but can surveil rear areas or combat zones near the fighting for long periods.

Small drones, meanwhile, typically can only fly for a few hours, while spy planes are often expensive, scarce, and need an onboard crew. Satellites have to wait to pass over a specific region to gather intelligence.

Niko Kuikka, the startup's head of engineering, told Business Insider at Kelluu's workshop in Finland that its airships can fly for half a day.

"Our customers don't care so much what we are flying with, but they pay us to stay up in the air for 12 hours. That's our specialty," said Kuikka.

About as long as a city bus and six-and-a-half feet wide, Kelluu's airships are tiny compared to the Zeppelins of World War I. The ship carries fuel, a propeller, and an onboard computer, and can be configured to transport an additional payload of up to 11 pounds for other gear such as sensors. Altitude can allow high-definition cameras or radar to survey a wider area.

Kuikka said a smaller size can be an advantage for Kelluu's airships, which are designed to fly at top speeds of 33 mph.

They're cheaper and easier to mass-manufacture, so a customer wouldn't have to worry that losing a few airships might disable an entire fleet, he said.

Kelluu declined to disclose its pricing, but said its airships are meant to be low-cost.

"Having a kind of sitting duck in the air that costs a vast amount of money isn't going to make sense," Kuikka said.

'Free interference' from Russia

At Kelluu's workshop, employees perform the final assembly of the airship and fill it with hydrogen, a lighter-than-air gas that serves to both lift its frame and power its propeller. In the upstairs attic, a team of about 10 computer engineers finetunes in-house software and a user interface for monitoring the airships.

The main team is based in Joensuu, a small city of 78,000 people just west of Russian Karelia.

That location is a key advantage for the airship company, Kuikka said.

Because Joensuu is so close to the border, it has to deal with frequent jamming from both Russia and Finland, or as Kuikka and his team call it: "free interference."

While other firms may have to pay for tests, Kelluu's airships must be resistant to electronic warfare to work in the first place, he said.

"We get all sorts of jamming and spoofing from the other side of the border, and also from this side of the border, so we have been proven to be pretty resilient against this sort of GSS denial," he said.

Kelluu is also about 340 miles south of the Arctic Circle, so its team had to build its airships to withstand icy winds and temperatures that dropped in January to -15°F.

As such, the startup is positioning its airship as a particularly useful means of monitoring future Arctic bases or territories. The theory goes that the longer its fleet can stay aloft in rough conditions, the fewer people are needed on the ground to maintain and operate the airships.

"We are hoping to soon have an asset that can run multi-day missions, so you need even fewer persons working out there," Kuikka said.

Catching NATO's eye

Joensuu once heavily relied on Russian tourism, an income flow sapped dry in 2022 after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine prompted Finland to stop issuing tourist visas to Russians. The following year, Finnish authorities closed the country's 833-mile land border with Russia.

Helsinki, like much of European NATO, is now grappling with the question of how to guard its eastern borders. The Finnish government is already raising concerns about illegal immigration, which it says Moscow is intentionally orchestrating as a gray warfare tactic.

Kelluu was founded in 2018, well before these issues drew public concern. It began by building airships for civilian use, such as monitoring power lines.

Now, the war is turning it into a rising star in Europe's defense industry.

Kelluu was one of 14 firms picked by NATO's Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic, or DIANA, to enter the second phase of the alliance's 2025 program.

The accelerator program is trying to connect allies with startups and defense contractors, pushing governments to adopt new tech into their militaries within two years. Roughly 2,600 companies or parties initially submitted proposals to DIANA this year.

After several showcases, Kelluu was the program's first company to land a deal with an allied country under a new "Rapid Adoption Service" to conduct national trials, a program spokesperson told Business Insider.

Neither NATO nor Kelluu named the member state, but Fabrizio Berizzi, challenge manager at DIANA, praised Kelluu's airships as "strongly versatile in terms of maneuvering and endurance" and useful for 24/7 surveillance.

"The airship solution proposed by Kelluu fills the gaps on aerial platforms operating in altitudes in between the typical UAS and aircraft airspaces," he told Business Insider in a statement, referring to uncrewed aerial systems.

Berizzi highlighted the airships' jamming-resistant capabilities, saying that they can operate in "electromagnetic contested and congested environments."

Each airship is also "difficult to detect from radar due to its low radar cross section, or radar reflectivity," he said.

Building thousands of airships

The material of the airship's metallic, mirror-like skin is a company secret, the firm said. When asked if it helps avoid radar detection, the company declined to answer.

But Kuikka said the core feature of Kelluu airships is that their structure allows them to be filled safely with hydrogen, which is flammable and more dangerous than helium but provides better lift; it is also lower cost than helium.

These airships are built with a semi-rigid frame, meaning they have some structural integrity but primarily derive their shape from the gas within. Zeppelins, by contrast, had fully rigid frames, while other airships like the $21 million Goodyear blimp would collapse if they were deflated.

Janne Hietala, Kelluu's CEO, said that lighter-than-air technology is often overlooked in the defense industry, especially with disaster stories like the Hindenburg marring its history.

NATO evaluators were surprised, he said, when they assessed the company's airships during trials, which included naval showcases in the Atlantic.

"Nobody kind of believed us," Hietala said. "When they looked at the specs, they were like: 'Well, the wind is going to blow it away.' But when we actually deploy, they're like: 'Oh, it actually works and makes sense.'"

Kelluu now maintains a small active fleet of just under 20 airships, but Hietala said it's focused in the near future on scaling up mass production capacity.

Some of its airships are already being deployed in other countries, such as Latvia, for testing or client use. Kelluu now manages and operates the fleet for its clients, but is discussing the possibility that some militaries may want to operate their own airships.

"Our intention in Europe is to manufacture more than 500 for the Western world, and we expect to eventually have 3,500," Hietala said.

• Simple data labeling is becoming obsolete as AI models require more complex training data, says Turing's CEO.
• AI training companies need to be a "proactive research partner" for major labs, Jonathan Siddharth said.
• AI data-labeling startups have been garnering massive valuations over the past year.

Basic data-labeling work — the kind built on tagging images or sorting text — is becoming obsolete, said the CEO of a $2.2 billion AI training firm.

Jonathan Siddharth, the CEO of Turing, said on an episode of the "20VC" podcast published Monday that "the era of data-labeling companies is over."

"Data needs have significantly changed," said Siddharth. Early models relied on annotators tagging images, classifying text, or performing simple tasks that could be outsourced at scale. Today's systems, like agentic models and reinforcement-learning architectures, require more complex data, he added.

"It's more real-world data, data that touches how real humans do knowledge work," Siddharth said, adding that major labs want to work with AI training companies that can be a "proactive research partner for them."

"It's now the era of research accelerators," he said.

Siddharth said AI training companies need to focus on building a reinforcement-learning environment — simulated mini-worlds — that replicate human workflows across different industries.

To do that, AI training companies must recruit human experts in various domains, Siddharth said.

Turing announced in June that it had raised $111 million in Series E funding at a valuation of $2.2 billion. Earlier this year, the AI training firm said its annual revenue run rate reached $300 million in 2024 — nearly triple the year before.

Rise of AI data-labeling companies

AI data-labeling startups have been garnering massive valuations over the past year.

In June, Meta acquired a 49% stake in Scale AI, valuing the company at over $29 billion. Mercor said in October that it closed a funding deal valuing the startup at $10 billion.

The AI training boom has also fueled a fast-growing freelance workforce. Business Insider reported in September that several freelancers and contractors said that their AI training work has provided them with thousands of dollars a month, although it can be disturbing and unpredictable. Business Insider spoke with more than 60 data labelers about their work experiences.

The demand for AI training has also created an underground market for access to these platforms. Business Insider reported on Monday that it uncovered more than 100 Facebook groups selling unauthorized access to real and fake contractor accounts. Although reselling accounts is prohibited by AI-training companies, scammers and opportunistic gig-seekers are cashing in on the growing demand for AI-training gigs.

• The US government has signed a nonbinding letter of intent to invest up to $150 million in a chip startup.
• xLight is chaired by Pat Gelsinger, who ran Intel until his resignation late last year.
• The deal signals Washington's effort to regain leadership in chipmaking.

The US government is poised to become a shareholder in a semiconductor startup chaired by Pat Gelsinger, who ran Intel until his resignation last year.

The Commerce Department said on Monday that the Trump administration signed a nonbinding letter of intent to invest up to $150 million in xLight, a startup trying to build a more advanced and cost-effective way to manufacture chips.

The investment would come from the CHIPS and Science Act and would be structured as equity, giving the federal government direct ownership in the company.

The deal — a first from the Trump administration's CHIPS Research and Development Office — signals Washington's effort to regain leadership in chipmaking. Most advanced semiconductors are manufactured outside the US, led by TSMC in Taiwan and Samsung in South Korea — areas where China's influence looms large.

Intel warned in July that it may halt development of its next-generation chip, 14A, due to financial reasons. If Intel gives up on 14A, this could be a death blow to US chip manufacturing, Business Insider's Alistair Barr wrote in a July report.

"For far too long, America ceded the frontier of advanced lithography to others. Under President Trump, those days are over," said Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in Monday's press release.

"This partnership would back a technology that can fundamentally rewrite the limits of chipmaking. Best of all, we would be doing it here at home," Lutnick added.

The Palo Alto-based startup, founded in 2021, is developing free-electron laser technology, "an alternative light source" for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines that power cutting-edge chip production, the press release said.

xLight said on its website that its systems would enhance Dutch firm ASML's machines, "the undisputed global leader in EUV lithography systems." EUV systems are only produced by ASML. xLight's technology will "transform semiconductor fab capabilities and dramatically reduce capital and operating expenses," it added.

Pat Gelsinger, who was pushed out as Intel CEO late last year after the company struggled with weak earnings and fell behind in the AI chip race, became xLight's executive chairman in March. He is also a general partner at Playground Global, the venture firm that led xLight's $40 million Series B round in July.

Gelsinger, who was CEO of Intel from 2021 to 2024, said in an interview with CNBC's "Squawk Box" in October that Intel "made a set of bad decisions over 15 years" and that technical leadership wasn't "led by technologists for many years."

"We were late on AI as well," he added.

Gelsinger spent decades rising through the ranks at Intel and became one of the most influential voices behind the 2022 CHIPS Act, a landmark manufacturing legislation that reshaped America's chip strategy.

xLight has the potential to "drive the next era of Moore's Law, accelerating fab productivity, while developing a critical domestic capability," said Gelsinger in a Monday press release.

• Texas is investigating Shein, accusing it of selling unsafe products.
• Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the company's practices go against the MAHA movement.
• "I will not allow cheap, dangerous, foreign goods to flood America and jeopardize our health," he said.

Texas has launched a probe into Shein, accusing it of selling unsafe, toxic products to US consumers.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a Monday news release that his office was investigating the fast-fashion giant for potential violations of Texas law, "related to unethical labor practices and the sale of unsafe consumer products."

Paxton referenced Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s "Make America Healthy Again" campaign in the release, saying that safe and non-toxic products were a key ingredient in the movement.

"Any company that cuts corners on labor standards or product safety, especially those operating in foreign nations like China, will be held accountable," Paxton said in the release.

Shein is headquartered in Singapore and sources many of its products from China.

"Texans deserve to know that the companies they buy from are ethical, safe, transparent, and not exploiting workers or selling harmful products. I will not allow cheap, dangerous, foreign goods to flood America and jeopardize our health," Paxton said.

The release said that the investigation will also examine Shein's data collection and privacy practices.

Representatives for Shein did not respond to a request for comment about the Texas investigation from Business Insider.

This is the latest setback that Shein is facing in the US, its largest market.

Since the start of President Donald Trump's second term, his administration has cracked down on the de minimis trade loophole, which previously allowed low-cost parcels to enter the country tax-free. Shein said in April that it would raise prices to account for higher operating expenses, a result of changes in trade laws.

Paxton, who is running for Senate in 2026, is not the first government official globally to launch a probe into Shein.

South Korean health officials raised concerns several times last year about Shein's products containing toxic substances above legal limits. In response to the probes, Shein told Singaporean outlet The Straits Times in June 2024 that it had removed the offending products from its catalogue.

In May, the European Commission said it had investigated Shein's practices and found that the company had breached EU law by offering fake discounts, using deceptive product labels, and making misleading sustainability claims.

Shein also came under fire in France in early November for selling childlike sex dolls and illegal weapons on its third-party marketplace in the country, per a Reuters report. France suspended the marketplace shortly after.

The European Commission said on Wednesday that it had sent a request to Shein to provide evidence that it would not expose minors to inappropriate content and that it would prevent the circulation of illegal products.

A Shein spokesperson told Politico that the company had received the request and was "working to promptly address it."

• Serena Williams says the sacrifices she made in her younger years meant she could prioritize being a mom now.
• "I put in the hard work, like we all are doing, but I did it a little bit earlier," she said.
• The tennis legend and venture capitalist says she tries to be home "29 nights a month."

Serena Williams, 44, says her early-career hustle is the reason she can devote so much of her time to being a mom today.

"I feel fortunate that I've had a career and that I don't have to do what most people do. I'm very lucky. I put in the hard work, like we all are doing, but I did it a little bit earlier. So, I think that's really working in my favor. And [now I can] just put my kids first," Williams told Net-A-Porter in an interview published on Monday.

Williams began playing tennis as a child and turned professional in 1995, at the age of 15. She went on to win 23 Grand Slam titles before retiring from the sport in 2022.

The tennis legend met her husband, Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian, in 2015. They married in 2017 and have two daughters, Olympia and Adira.

"With Olympia, I didn't leave her until she was five! That may have been a little extreme. And it's not recommended!" Williams said. "But I've just always wanted to be a mom."

Despite a packed schedule that includes running her VC firm Serena Ventures, Williams says she always makes time for her family.

"I want to be around my family. I'm cooking every night that I'm home. I'm home 29 nights a month… Sometimes I'll fly to New York, do what I need to do, fly back and be home in time for dinner," she said.

In April 2022, Williams told Business Insider that she found it hard not to devote all of her free time to her kids.

"Mom guilt is real. I always feel so guilty when I'm doing something on my own," she said. "I don't know if I'm a good mom, and I don't know if my method works, but I'm very hands-on with my daughter, and it was the same with our parents. So I've set really good boundaries, but then after work, I'm going right to my daughter. And that's amazing and good, but now it's like, 'Okay, what happens to Serena?'" she said.

Speaking to Byrdie in 2024, the tennis star said that her kids bring her the most joy in life.

"I can't say that a Wimbledon trophy holds a candle to volunteering at my kid's school," Williams said.