Blockchain, IoT, and the Future of Payment Systems

The Future of Value, Money, and Payments

We are looking into the future of value, money, and payments. The result is a series of presentations, papers, and podcasts (here’s an example) that is released and updated over several months.

OrionX Research clients will automatically receive this material, and OrionX Advisory subscribers will see the essence of these in their quarterly briefings and reports. Here’s a quick preview.

What is the Big Deal?

Smart connected things, as in Internet of Things (IoT), are already participating in many transactions. But right now, people are very much in the process, directing the transaction and handling the devices.

The real revelation here is that soon, Things will be transacting with each other, and autonomously. This is like “Program Trading” that already exists on Wall Street. But what we are talking about is mainstream transactions.

You need new transaction systems to make it possible for smart connected Things to do their thing: deliver services efficiently, to people and to each other, verify delivery, and receive payment.

Core Technologies

Core technologies will include Blockchain on top of IoT platforms. Smart Contracts govern transactions.

Impact on Organizations

This post-credit-card post-cashier era is complex. Companies must track and understand lots of important details. Such systems may improve existing business processes, but their real impact is to enable new business models.

As you decide what to do when, you must

• track the readiness of the technology stack,
• identify use cases and build business cases,
• set policies,
• build processes for physical vs. digital service delivery,
• evaluate options for payment processing, currencies, wallets, and exchanges,
• etc.

The broad range of technologies and issues indicates the large impact that this trend will have. What is unmistakable is that it is happening and it is gaining momentum.