Mercator identified social media as an issue that participants in the payments landscape need to start investing in to stake out a position over the next 5-10 years. This is available on our web site to everyone that registers in the Mercator 2022 Outlook: Emerging Technologies Viewpoint. This article makes a similar suggestion but with less detail. For example, the article has a paragraph on the role of tokens while the Outlook devotes an entire section to the role of tokens related to social networks, global card networks, and faster payments:
“Much has been written of late about how the metaverse will be the evolution of the internet as we know it. With the rebranding of Facebook (now Meta) the metaverse has been pushed into the limelight with organisations considering how they should tackle this global phenomenon. Part of this consideration for many is commerce, how will digital goods and services be paid for in the metaverse? What does this mean for traditional banks vs challenger banks?
The ultimate promise of the metaverse is that it will provide an augmented reality experience that could surpass the physical reality we live in. The promise of a new reality is an exciting prospect for many giving companies the opportunity of a more level playing field. One opportunity that stood out for us is how will individuals and businesses accept and distribute money and information in a secure way? Naturally, in the virtual world there needs to be applications and virtual systems that perform our transactions, because physical cash won’t be applicable.
That’s where we see blockchain and cryptocurrency-based technologies coming in. Blockchain technology is proven to have the security to be able to power peer to peer payments (P2P) and scale into all mediums of digital payments. It not only enables instant confirmation of payment and information but also provides a high level of security and can be adopted by the mainstream quickly at scale. The instant element of blockchain and crypto payments means instant processing and settlement of digital assets like NFTs, cryptocurrency and other future discovered digital assets. These assets could be traded, sold, and marketed through the metaverse marketplace tied to an individual’s blockchain based payment wallet or equivalent, meaning a secure, instant, scalable way of accepting a payment for commerce.”
Overview by Tim Sloane, VP, Payments Innovation at Mercator Advisory Group
