As society seems to head toward the endgame of an interconnected mobile-centric global community where people seem to have more ways to contact each other than ever before, yet simultaneously seem less connected, the way we send and receive payments and purchase items will inevitably follow suit.
The smartphone has streamlined human existence, especially in the Western world. It is impossible to travel by public transport and not see a sea of people using their mobile phones. Whether they read the news, pay bills, browse social media or watch videos doesn’t matter. Smart phones are miraculous inventions and have changed the world by an untold and incalculable degree.
Everyday banking is conducted through mobile apps, from sending money to our friends or using a digital wallet on our phone to buy our groceries. It is integral to our day-to-day finances.
Companies specializing in creating these ingenious methods of securely sending money and everything that underpins them are in a constant battle with each other to innovate.
They aim to provide more convenience and encourage the mass adoption of higher-quality technology so they can rise to the zenith of the industry. With that said, we will now explore some of the top digital payment methods.
Table of Contents
Peer-to-Peer Payments
You may recognize peer-to-peer payments as cryptocurrency payments. The digital asset industry is one of the leading pioneers in finance. Although cryptocurrency has yet to see the crossover appeal other sectors have witnessed, such as the internet, many analysts and experts believe it is only a matter of time.
Although other social casino payment methods may enjoy more activity, such as traditional payments involving standard currencies and banks, 20 years from now, cryptocurrency is likely to continue to gain popularity.
The ingenuity and unique nature of peer-to-peer payments involves digital wallets where you can send digital assets instantly. The blockchain and cryptography that underwrites these payments uses a public ledger that cannot be amended. It verifies each payment, completely negating the need for a bank. In the event of a security breach, only your wallet address is compromised; your personal information remains secure.
If this technology is implemented correctly, it could be the most significant disruptive innovation we have seen in any sector since the rise of the internet. The banking sector hasn’t had any competition to its monopoly on retail banking, and cryptocurrency and Bitcoin could seriously shake up the industry.
Now that countries like El Salvador have taken the quantum leap and made Bitcoin a legal currency, we could be at the precipice of one of human history’s most significant financial changes.
There’s still a long way to go before we get to the stage of multiple countries adopting digital assets as legal tender. However, the current legislative issues in America, their stance on cryptocurrency regulation, and the legal precedent they set within the next 12 to 24 months are vital. Their regulation of the industry could make or break the future of Bitcoin and the entire market that operates underneath it.
PayPal
Regarding FinTech, PayPal is the industry’s godfather. They spotted the immense possibility of using the internet to send money more quickly and conveniently. They built a multibillion-dollar idea, which is still used by tens of millions worldwide daily.
They established working relationships with some of the world’s biggest e-commerce companies, such as eBay, which allowed PayPal to set the bar high for other financial companies looking to move into the world of online payments.
Plenty of other companies have moved successfully into this industry and used their blueprint, whether it is in advertising and onboarding new customers via referral fees, innovative and highly secure payment systems or being able to pay people and companies by simply using an e-mail address.
Although this market is ultra-competitive and saturated, PayPal has been at the top for so long that it’s hard to envisage them ever losing its grip as one of the top digital payment methods.
Biometric Authentication
Depending on who you bank with, you may have noticed this technology has become more widespread over the last few years. Biometric authentication may be required when you send a payment to somebody. Instead of the provider asking you to provide a password or a PIN, you take a selfie and it reads the biometric authenticity of your face.
While it may not be the most pleasant experience being hit with a reverse camera view of your face when you’re half asleep, it is a method of security that is an entire dimension above a standard PIN or password. While those methods are relatively secure, no one can bypass biometric authentication successfully unless they have the exact dimensions of your face, which is highly improbable.
Biometric authentication is used as a layer of security by banks, but soon there will be companies that will allow you to send money solely using this method. Biometrics can also use your fingerprints, and now that giant financial institutions are on board, we expect this to rise to the top of the digital payment industry.
QR codes
Cryptocurrency payments benefit a lot from QR codes. For example, you can use your wallet’s QR code and allow somebody sending you money to scan it on their mobile phone. This instantly provides the details and sends the money to you immediately, so there is no two-factor authentication, approving payments in an app or waiting 10 minutes for a notification to say your money has arrived.
QR codes are incredibly innovative and create such a unique piece of imagery that it is no surprise that so many companies are using them, and not just to send payments. As you may already know, QR codes are heavily utilized in advertising. You can also scan them for concert tickets, recipes, tourist information and thousands of other possibilities.
Conclusion
These are exciting times in the world of FinTech. With mobile phones dominating the lifestyle and landscape of countries right across the globe, this industry will soon be a multitrillion-dollar sector. It’s also not entirely out of the realm of possibility that 10 or 15 years from now, all financial transactions will take place through a mobile device.
As we head towards a more cashless society, and with physical bank branches closing down in the hundreds every year, the only generations of people who still make payments traditionally using cash are people who didn’t grow up with the internet or mobile phones. While a cashless society doesn’t solve all the issues we face today, and it may cause other problems that currently don’t exist, we are steamrolling towards it at a lightning pace.
Biometric authentication, QR codes and cryptocurrency are all part of a tidal wave of innovation in the world of finance. The banking sector and retail investors understand this and have strategically invested their capital accordingly. As the tech sector shows signs of slowing, innovation could ramp up in FinTech and turn it into one of the world’s largest growing sectors.
Once you throw in the rise of AI, which may also begin to play a more prominent role in this field, it looks like a perfect storm of factors will allow the digital payment industry to flourish over the next decade.
About Carson Derrow
