The future of money is __________

Last week, I had the chance to attend Money 20/20, the Coachella of financial technology. Over four days in Las Vegas, I heard from more than 100 speakers and met with dozens of executives, investors, and entrepreneurs working to define and create the future of money.

So, what is that future? And how do we get there? To find out, I posed the following three questions to attendees:

1. What excites you most about the future of money?
2. To reach the future you envision, what's one challenge that will need to be overcome?
3. Ten years from now, what will be the No. 1 topic of conversation at Money 20/20?

Below is a selection of their responses.

What do you think? Add your own answers in the comments.

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What excites you most about the future of money?

Unprecedented access. Blockchain will open up access to world-class financial services that are now either regional, or have prohibitive barriers to entry — and in many cases, both. —JP Thieriot, CEO, Uphold

Broader access to investment and savings opportunities for people who otherwise wouldn’t have had them. And a more inclusive environment and one where people are empowered to gain more control over their financial future. —Gary Beasley, CEO, Roofstock

The democratization of investment options. As more assets are opened up to more people, individuals can participate in building a better financial future for themselves and their families for generations to come. —Brett Crosby, COO, PeerStreet

The value of the experience that isn’t limited to the perspective of just the transaction itself. A wealth of data surrounding the transaction (properly permissioned, of course) can improve the quality of the experience beyond a seamless transaction. —Eric Byunn, partner, Centana Growth Partners

Not the money itself, but the experience wrapped around it. We live in a constant stream of commerce — from when our feet hit the floor in the morning until our head hits the pillow at night — we are surrounded by offers, transactions, promotions, needs, desires, bills, etc... The future will see all of this stitched together to form far more connected, insightful, and rewarding experiences for the consumer. —Devon Watson, CMO, Diebold Nixdorf

We know that fintech innovations have made it easier to move and manage money — but what is really exciting is that we’re now able to see how fintech’s potential can truly drive economic growth across the globe. —Louise Pentland, chief business affairs & legal officer, PayPal

Money has come in many forms over the ages, but its real value comes from its ability to enable transactions — and that aspect of money is undergoing an exciting and revolutionary transformation. We are entering a new era of frictionless commerce and digital-first banking that is fundamentally changing all kinds of financial transactions, with tremendous benefits for convenience, efficiency, and productivity. —Frank D’Angelo, executive vice president of banking, NCR

Since the origin of fiat currencies, the face value of money has simply been what’s printed on currency or, if you like, what's displayed on-screen in a mobile banking app. The $5 bill in my pocket will always have the same monetary value as the one currently in your pocket. Conversely, money has an ‘information’ value — a meta value attached to its specific use — that often has deep-rooted emotional value that’s unique to each consumer. Unlocking money's information value will reorient how we value and use money, adding more frequent meaning and purpose to daily financial decisions. —Al Slamecka, financial services industry lead, Cisco

Its potential to continue changing economies, democratize access to capital, and open opportunities for billions of people. Money 20/20 always has such an upbeat tone to it, and there were a lot of inspiring sessions about how money can ignite positive change and bring people and economies together for a common good, which is very different from the narrative we often hear. I’m an optimist on this and think that the future of money is indeed one of opening doors and lifting all boats. —Deidre Campbell, global chair, financial services sector, Edelman

The continued shift from cash to digital and mobile empowers consumers and businesses in ways we haven’t seen before. Expectations on convenience will become embedded into every aspect of how we deal with money and will continue to raise the bar for financial institutions and provide opportunity for startups in the space. One of the implications of this shift is the democratization of access to many parts of financial services that previously weren’t available to individuals, and particularly not at mass scale. —Tricia Kemp, general partner, Oak HC/FT

With payments continuing to trend toward digital even more, the exciting thing for retailers will be that with digital currency, traditional barriers come down — and customer satisfaction will go up. What used to be technology reserved for early adopters or super geeks is now becoming ubiquitous, touching almost every demographic and customer profile. Consumers are now moving seamlessly from phone ordering to in-person ordering using their phone. And the connection to the brand links both experiences in a way that consumers appreciate — their preferences are saved, suggestions are smart, and rewards are compelling and easy to redeem. Digital payments — whether it be a mobile wallet, P2P application, or a banking app — is the catalyst for this seamless flow from online to in-person. The future that it creates will invigorate new businesses, new business opportunities and new brands — with less cost and more reach then ever before. —Maeve Duska, senior vice president of marketing & strategic development, USA Technologies

Leveraging data to change the way underwriting for financial products works and using machine learning to develop entirely new products and experiences for consumers to achieve their financial dreams — whether that be owning a home, going to college, or getting (and staying) out of debt. —Varun Krishna, VP of product, consumer group, Intuit

The history of money is replete with long periods of stability followed by brief, almost violent, innovation. The transition from barter to bank-derived notes completely upended global trade. A few hundred years later the creation of fiat currency enabled large countries to grow through domestic and foreign trade. It feels like it’s time for another big wave. Let’s awkwardly name it the “digitalization” of finance. There are still too many human experts doing rote work to generate key monetary decisions in underwriting, fraud detection, and customer service. People are slow, expensive, and unpredictable. As we introduce more computational solutions for these problems, basic customer service will speed up and improve, loans will be made more efficiently and effectively, and people will focus on harder problems like complex customer service issues, process monitoring, and inventing better financial products. The last material innovation in finance was the invention of the credit score by Messrs. Fair and Isaac in the 1950s. Digitalization will transform finance again by creating all sorts of new ways to serve billions of people across the globe in realtime. That's going to be one of the biggest paradigm shifts in finance the world has ever seen. —Douglas Merrill, CEO, ZestFinance

The idea of creating a financial system for the masses. Today’s financial system is heavily geared toward the top 1 percent, often alienating the average Joe. Instead, I’d like to see private banking experiences offered to everyday users, to help consumers feel financially empowered while promoting healthier saving and spending habits. —Dee Choubey, CEO, MoneyLion

That it continues to be such an exciting sector to work in. Consumers are getting more and more demanding when it comes to payment choices and there is constant pressure to be on top of the latest trends and thinking and to continue innovating. Nothing stands still for long. We put a lot of focus on keeping on top of consumer and merchant trends and our latest proprietary research report does not disappoint in revealing some surprising findings. In the next two years, 56 percent of merchants think consumers are looking to pay online with cash and 40 percent even expect to have fully frictionless, Amazon-Go style systems — a clear departure from the largely card-based delivery of today. —Todd Linden, CEO of payment processing, North America, Paysafe

A future where people become more data-centric and thus better informed and fact-driven. The availability of data is accelerating and enabling a much richer source of insights and learnings for investing and personal finance. This democratization of data is creating more efficient markets and driving a ton of innovation for the space. —Elizabeth Pritchard, head of go-to-market, Crux Informatics

New techniques for gathering and analyzing financial data are creating new opportunities to optimize financial decision-making for consumers, taking the pain, complexity, and hassle out of day-to-day money management and enabling people to focus on the things that really matter. —Jennifer Tescher, CEO, Center for Financial Services Innovation

The future of money is instant. Real-time digital disbursements are driving the instant money economy. Consumers are increasingly exposed to instant payments in lending and insurance and they are expecting that same ease in every monetary transaction. Consumers simply want to get paid in the same convenient way they pay companies. This demand is even greater when you consider gig economy, millennial expectations, and the critical cash needs of customers struggling with uneven income flows. —Drew Edwards, CEO, Ingo Money

The elimination of friction on inbound and outbound funds to eliminate cash flow challenges for consumers and businesses. Whether your family is rebuilding after a hurricane, or your business needs cash flow, having access to instant funds is critical. On-demand payments to anyone, anywhere in an instant is happening now and early adopters and their customers are seeing significant benefits. The explosive growth for these technologies is exciting. —Lisa McFarland, chief product officer, Ingo Money

The idea of “smart money.” Despite rapid personalization in consumer experiences powered by big data and widespread connectivity, money remains relatively static. As a society, we do a poor job today of addressing individual needs for money at specific times and still rely on broad data sets and rough segmentation to assess risk and credit. This is especially acute in health care, where the majority of patients struggle to afford bills. Much in the way that Netflix can accurately predict the next show you will love based on prior behavior, what if we could make money and payment options smart enough to know at an individual level exactly how to help you afford much needed health care? —Tomer Shoval, CEO, Simplee

The treasure trove of data that surrounds the use of money. In the past, transactions (payments, commerce, lending, etc.) were carried out exclusively through established banking channels. The introduction of data and the rise of technology-driven financial players into the traditional banking ecosystem will be extremely transformative. In recent years, the collaboration between these two have challenged the status quo and given rise to new solutions and customer-focused innovations. This has been fascinating to see. Continued collaboration between mainstays and rising players will change access to money as we know it — for the better. —Michael Finkelstein, CEO, The Credit Junction

The disruption driving such a rapid transformation from the physical world to the digital one. Money is moving from paper currency, checks, cards, ledgers, etc., to data (i.e., knowledge of who owns what vs. physical custody), which blows open the doors to digital currency, real-time transactions that can take place anywhere, and blockchain ledger systems which can completely change the game in terms of how value is moved through businesses and society. Being so central to how lives are lived, such a disruption in how value is exchanged has the potential to change the way the entire world works. —Pierre Habis, president, PurePoint Financial

I’m excited to see a more inclusive financial sector that works for everyone. We’re in the golden age of fintech innovation: data, analytics, digital remittances, AI, blockchain, and, of course, mobile phones and internet can help us create better, faster, cheaper, and safer financial services for the world’s three billion financially underserved. These new innovations can fundamentally change how we provide credit, payments, savings, and insurance to billions of people. But we have much work to do to make this vision real. —Michael Schlein, CEO, Accion

I am tremendously excited about startups that are figuring out how to use technology to provide relevant, affordable financial services to the billions of people who have historically been underserved by the financial sector because they were too expensive and difficult to acquire and understand. True inclusion will be made possible by innovative business models that leverage technology in a way that makes sense for low-income consumers and underserved small businesses. —Vikas Raj, managing director, Accion Venture Lab

The potential to solve a global problem: banking the unbanked, especially in developing nations. —Nicko van Someren, chief security officer, nanopay

In my view, the opportunities that eWallets are opening up for customers around the world is truly exciting. Alternative methods like ApplePay, AliPay, and eWallets now make up over a third of transactions (35 percent). In fact, we predict eWallets will overtake credit cards by 2019. Currently, these are operating very much on a domestic level, and we’re now looking toward a future where we can connect these cross-border. Customers will no longer need to think about money movement in terms of account-to-account or card-to-card. The stage is set for the next evolution and I think eWallets will be a truly transformational vehicle for global money movement. —Jean Claude Farah, president of global payments, Western Union

Since the advent of the ATM and the credit card, the payments revolution has been about making payments as easy and frictionless as possible. We’re approaching the point where someone can walk into a store and walk out with their product, with payments happening automatically. For Synchrony, this trend toward frictionless payments anywhere is opening new avenues to provide financing. But what excites me is what happens after that: how your payment methods communicate with those selling products to anticipate and respond to your needs. The first revolution is making payments seamless; the second will make payments personalized. —Trish Mosconi, executive vice president, business strategy & development, Synchrony

The rise of the digital economy coupled with the speed of advancements in technologies that support payments. Because of the robust digital economy, there are more opportunities for consumers to purchase goods and services. Ensuring a positive payment experience is more important to merchants than ever before; if a consumer has a poor payment experience, they can quickly move on to the next merchant to buy the same product but with a more seamless check-out. The future is bringing the entire payment experience into one platform. —Suneera Madhani, CEO, Fattmerchant

One is being able to reach the full potential of AI. While there’s a lot of buzz around AI, the reality is that it’s still vastly underutilized. Right now we use it for fraud detection, for example, but it can also be used to offer a more intuitive and personalized banking experience for the customer. The second thing is how open banking/APIs will determine which fintechs (or incumbents) will ultimately “own” the financial services gateway. Whoever succeeds at aggregating different financial products and services seamlessly will have a major advantage in terms of customer relationships and experience. —Nicolas Kopp, U.S. CEO, N26

With the global movement of money becoming cheaper and faster, whether through centralized fiat currency or decentralized cryptocurrency, the future of money will enable people and businesses around the world to more easily transact — thus making the world smaller. —Tom Villante, CEO, Yapstone

Money will be everywhere and nowhere / ubiquitous, but transparent. Earning money will perhaps be similar but spending it will be less explicit. It will be understood that each experience comes at a monetary value and that it will be deducted from your “total money” if you choose and proceed with an experience. And that is how it should be! These experiences will neither know nor care about geographic, currency, regulatory, domicility bounds. Current form factors like card and wallet will fade into the background and agreeing to spend money for an experience will be initiated based on where you are or what you are doing. Think about it: Money is already becoming transparent. Whether you ride an Uber to order a protein shake after a workout by using a fingerprint at your fitness center, spending money is implied. In just 50 years, we moved from carrying cash to using a piece of plastic to pay for most of our goods and services; it is quite exciting to think of possibilities for reimagining in the next 50 years. I would imagine ordering a hot chocolate and not having to perform “an act” (an action) to pay for it. Centralized biometrics are associated with my pool of money and there is no authentication required for a low-ticket item like hot chocolate. —Kasturi Mudulodu, VP of product management, Yapstone

Promising new companies are leveraging the latest technology and a fresh approach to improve access to capital and financial services for businesses and individuals worldwide. The industry is moving toward broader inclusion and a more equal financial landscape where consumers who may otherwise be overlooked by traditional financial institutions have an opportunity to participate in the financial ecosystem thanks to innovative technology solutions and new distribution channels. —Brendan Carroll, senior partner, Victory Park Capital

The fact that it will be possible in the near future to develop a regulatory-compliant and privacy-preserving electronic analog of cash. Doing this properly will have tremendous implications for the modus operandi of the entire financial ecosystem, and will create a much-needed counterbalance to existing centralized payment systems. —Shamir Karkal, CEO, Sila

Over the past 25 years, I have witnessed phenomenal changes in banking, trading, and the move toward a cashless society. While ATMs and call centers ushered in 24-hour banking, that was just the start. We have seen digitization, imaging, mobility, and online distribution technologies all start to transform almost every aspect of the customer financial journey. Even though it has been a great time to be in the industry, I still think that we are in the beginning stages of the next significant disruption as the potential of cloud technologies, blockchain, and AI are just beginning to be realized. —Terrence Richardson, head of corporate communications & sponsorships, Group1001

Going digital has increased efficiency and driven down cost — but people are wired for connection. For many businesses, emotional connection with customers has been compromised by their digital strategy and this directly impacts on brand value, revenue growth, and churn. This backdrop sets the scene for incredible innovation. Greatness is up for grabs! Personalized, exceptional customer experience across all channels will offer the hometown advantage in the bank war to come. This exciting revolution will be driven by the fintech industry who will collectively shape the future of money. We’re about to rewrite banking history. —Nick Sokolich, global VP of sales, FaceMe

Technology is enabling financial access to hard-to-reach people and places. Take areas hit by disasters for example — if you lost your home or are waiting for aid, it often takes a long time for cash or checks to reach you; the area is hard to access as a result of the natural disaster, internet lines are down, people with lost homes don’t have a permanent address, etc. But with P2P technology, humanitarian aid organizations like the American Red Cross and insurance companies like Allstate are finding it easy to revive communities faster by sending much-needed monetary aid and claims in a matter of hours versus days straight to an existing card or mobile money account. In developing markets this is translating not only to money but is opening up access to things like electricity and water. Mastercard is working on a project in developing markets where people can make daily payments of a few cents with QR technology to keep the lights on at home. So what is most exciting for me is the inclusion and equity that payment technology can bring to society. —Jessica Turner, executive vice president, digital payments & labs, North America, Mastercard

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To reach the future you envision, what's one challenge that will need to be overcome?

Breaking out of our technophile shell. Digital assets need to start being designed for mainstream consumers. They need to behave like mature financial assets with the user safeguards, such as key protection and easy inheritability, that consumers have come to expect from their financial products. And they need to offer genuine utility such as the ability to earn interest and access affordable credit. —JP Thieriot, CEO, Uphold

Re-invent the ‘standard’ way of doing things, including reducing transactional costs and friction and in some cases streamlining regulatory barriers. In real estate in particular, things have been done pretty much the same way for over a hundred years. Consider how much innovation has occurred in areas like communications and payments, yet people still sign reams of documents and wire money into escrow like they have for decades. —Gary Beasley, CEO, Roofstock

Technology needs to continue evolving and ideally the regulatory environment will adapt to the opportunities technology is bringing. —Brett Crosby, COO, PeerStreet

With the masses of data and the analytical tools to turn data into meaningful insights, providers have no excuse not to make ever-more valuable experiences beyond the transaction, but to do so will require focus on building business relationships across the ecosystem to meet customers’ expectations in a seamless and secure manner. —Eric Byunn, partner, Centana Growth Partners

Silos. Banks, payments companies, retailers all operate as silos — even within themselves. We have to move to a more unified view of Connected Commerce in order to start integrating across old boundaries. Only then will we be able to offer this far more compelling, and far more valuable, end-to-end experience to the consumer. —Devon Watson, CMO, Diebold Nixdorf

We don’t have the regulatory structure we need for future fintech innovation. Right now, my team and I work with regulators to ensure compliance with all applicable regulations in the markets in which we operate, but it’s a complex situation. In partnering with regulators to better address shared concerns — including consumer protection, security, and privacy — while delivering solutions that will positively impact people around the world, we can extend the reach of our services and increase access to needed financial tools. —Louise Pentland, chief business affairs & legal officer, PayPal

As with any emerging technology, frictionless innovations have to be applied wisely, and they do not replace the need for people. Retailers and financial institutions have to carefully consider their brand value and the preferences of their customers in deciding how use new technology to enable transactions. —Frank D’Angelo, executive vice president of banking, NCR

The primary challenge is changing the financial services model to be truly customer centric — giving the consumer the ability to construct and integrate financial services into their lives. This will require financial institutions to create a flexible platform from which they can provide consumable services to an increasing variety of devices and channels. —Al Slamecka, financial services industry lead, Cisco

To reach our greatest potential, we need to address the lack of trust in the financial system. Trust underpins every transaction, and if the participants in those transactions on either end — and the intermediaries — aren’t earning and maintaining trust, we can’t progress. A recent study we conducted on affluent millennials found that 77 percent think it’s just a matter of time before “bad behavior” in the financial sector leads us to another financial crisis. This generation stands to inherit trillions over the next 30 years, so it’s imperative that industry players confront this distrust through radical transparency in their business practices. —Deidre Campbell, global chair, financial services sector, Edelman

As new products are offered and consumers’ relative power, influence, and access in the ecosystem increases, there have to be safeguards in place to make sure individuals are protected. At the same time, financial institutions are increasingly motivated to use data to personalize experiences for customers and provide services that meet and exceed expectations. Regulation needs to address both sides of the equation, with safeguards for consumers and rational limits on financial institutions. —Tricia Kemp, general partner, Oak HC/FT

Mobile payments providers, and those in the mobile payments space, need to work harder to educate and incentivize consumers in these early days. That is the only way if they are to accelerate adoption. In addition, this may be one area where less choice is better. With everyone jumping on the mobile payments bandwagon, there is a lot of noise. Technology providers who “own the phone” (like Apple) will continue to have a significant advantage over other applications. And their ability to continue to offer more payment types and choices into the wallet will help consumers take the leap and leave their wallets at home. —Maeve Duska, senior vice president of marketing & strategic development, USA Technologies

People spend hundreds of millions of hours each year applying for financial products and services only to get rejected or a rate they didn’t realize — and this just needs to change. We’re actively working to digitize the experience to allow our users to share tax and financial data more seamlessly across the entire application process. In the end we believe this will benefit both lenders and consumers alike by making the entire process run more efficiently. —Varun Krishna, VP of product, consumer group, Intuit

If we’re going to drive better technology into the heart of core activities such as underwriting, what has to change are the incentives offered to people who work at financial firms. I’m not talking about money, but reversing the powerful social pressures to avoid failure, or make decisions that might cost you your job, or annoy your boss, or make an influential peer look badly to their boss. These pressures are powerful. They give rise to expressions like “Nobody ever lost their job buying IBM.” But the financial entities that can’t figure out how to buy pioneering technologies from new players and manage the risk of their implementation will end up on the dustbin of history. —Douglas Merrill, CEO, ZestFinance

Financial illiteracy. With the majority of Americans having less than $2,000 in their savings account, now more than ever we need to create and educate users on personal finance tools that encourage better financial management techniques. —Dee Choubey, CEO, MoneyLion

Finding the right balance between security and a frictionless payment experience. Our research shows that both really matter to consumers. 70 percent of the SMBs covered in Paysafe's latest research stated that they found it hard to find the right balance. As frictionless payments become ever more important, businesses are struggling to get to grips with how to make this balance with security. —Todd Linden, CEO of payment processing, North America, Paysafe

A key barrier to the democratization of data is the necessary infrastructure to ingest and process data to get to insights faster. The industry is just waking up to the monumental work of creating the right infrastructure to capture and process all the data. The main challenge is finding scalable solutions that help everyone in the industry and are not individual patches for just one firm or application. —Elizabeth Pritchard, head of go-to-market, Crux Informatics

To get there, we need to put control of financial data in the hands of consumers. That's a challenge given current norms, systems and processes around data ownership and governance. —Jennifer Tescher, CEO, Center for Financial Services Innovation

Implementing a modern payments experience can be challenging, especially for the older smokestack economy, but companies must change in order to meet today’s customer expectations. This is more about providing a modern, on-demand, real-time payments experience for your customers than it is about costs; however, moving to digital instant payments can also yield incredible cost savings. To make this a reality, companies need a partner that specializes in push payments where they can focus on their customer experience and not the difficult plumbing required to make it work. —Drew Edwards, CEO, Ingo Money

To truly fulfill the promise of on-demand payments, businesses must overcome the limitations of legacy technology and cumbersome processes. —Lisa McFarland, chief product officer, Ingo Money

The balance of personalization analytics and privacy concerns. Companies must continue to build trust with consumers that they can be trusted to protect data and use it to create better experiences. Investing in data security is one essential requirement. The other is that companies must build a mindset and culture around putting the consumer first, always remembering that the data ultimately belongs to the consumer and is to be used to serve that consumer better. —Tomer Shoval, CEO, Simplee

Collaboration between traditional banking institutions and non-traditional financial upstarts is a trend that has not reached its full potential. Their continued cooperation comes with challenges for both sides. For incumbents, embracing market disruptors obviously presents a major challenge. For upstarts, their ability to scale to meet the needs of larger, established financial institutions will be critical. Those who realize the benefit of pooling their expertise and embracing data-driven solutions will have the opportunity to reinvent the competitive landscape. How, when, and with whom they do so remains to be seen. —Michael Finkelstein, CEO, The Credit Junction

Security. With a shift from physical control to data and digital ownership, authentication and security becomes totally central to the conversation. Technology (AI, biometrics, etc.) will shape our ability to know counterparties and assure transaction completion, reducing friction and making the act of paying safely move to the background. —Pierre Habis, president, PurePoint Financial

We have made significant progress on access — but access is just a first step. We need to build the financial tools that people find truly useful. We’ll know we’re succeeding when those new accounts are used actively. Today, too many of them are dormant for more than a year. If you don’t use your account in a year, it’s hard to say that financial product is useful to you. There’s great innovation in almost every financial product, but, in the aggregate, we’re just getting started. —Michael Schlein, CEO, Accion

If inclusive fintechs are going to scale at a level that reaches three billion people who are currently underserved, they will need significantly more capital than we can invest, and they will need large players like banks, tech platforms, and payment companies as partners, infrastructure providers, and customers. —Vikas Raj, managing director, Accion Venture Lab

To reach a future where all individuals can access financial services, one of the main challenges is education, specifically for financial institutions and governments. Financial institutions may be hesitant to change, and currently many governments see the rush to cryptocurrency as more of a threat than an opportunity. Once we can show how to safely digitize fiat cash, governments and financial institutions will be able to transform their economies. —Nicko van Someren, chief security officer, nanopay

One challenge that every global company faces today is compliance. It is a real challenge for any business to develop a solid understanding of local regulations and laws, yet it is vital. Western Union has a footprint across 200 countries and territories, and for us compliance is not a cost, but an investment. We invest over $200 million a year and more than 20 percent of our workforce is dedicated to compliance. —Jean Claude Farah, president of global payments, Western Union

Emerging technologies like AI are a competitive advantage for all companies that will allow for faster, easier, and more innovative services. Synchrony is already seeing the broad-reaching possibilities of AI. We are using it to transform customer experiences, to reduce fraud, to put credit in more people’s hands, and to personalize marketing. In doing so, it is our responsibility to use it in a fair and transparent way. All organizations must voluntarily use AI responsibly. It’s not just the right thing to do; it’s the only thing to do. —Trish Mosconi, executive vice president, business strategy & development, Synchrony

The speed at which consumer-based payment technology is advancing far exceeds that of merchant-based payment technology. We are always playing a game of catch-up. While consumers certainly need easy ways to pay through advanced technology, merchants need just as seamless of a means to accept and manage payments. In the race to create the easiest and fastest ways for consumers to pay, merchants have been slightly left out, and if we want consumers to continue purchasing goods and services, we owe merchants a better payments experience. —Suneera Madhani, CEO, Fattmerchant

In the U.S., more needs to be done on the regulatory front to make open banking a reality here. In Europe, open banking/PSD2 has helped create a more favorable environment for fintechs, resulting in more standardization and consumer protections. This is an opportunity to drive greater innovation and competition, ultimately giving customers more freedom to choose among third-party providers for a loan or savings product. —Nicolas Kopp, U.S. CEO, N26

The incumbent network of payment processors and banks that are making fat profits on global e-commerce and foreign exchange will challenge fintech innovators seeking to make global money movement cheaper and faster. —Tom Villante, CEO, Yapstone

1.7 billion adults worldwide remain unbanked, and more yet are banked but struggling financially. Many large investors have preconceived notions about the risks associated with investing in fintech companies that serve these consumer segments, particularly in emerging markets, despite the fact that most are growing rapidly and generating attractive returns. To broaden financial inclusion and promote financial equality, global investors must actively nurture opportunities that empower unbanked and underbanked businesses and consumers by more willingly taking on risk, investing in technology, and developing partnerships that provide funding across fintechs’ lifecycles. —Brendan Carroll, senior partner, Victory Park Capital

It is necessary to develop a legal framework that is flexible enough to accommodate necessary technical innovations and preserve privacy, while at the same time preventing money laundering, terrorist financing, and other financial crimes. —Shamir Karkal, CEO, Sila

Protecting customers from cybercrime and fraud are the biggest challenges. Distributed cloud technologies and AI will present unique security challenges. While biometrics can certainly help mitigate the risk, the industry needs to develop other solutions and services that put financial safety and security at the forefront of each technological advance. —Terrence Richardson, head of corporate communications & sponsorships, Group1001

Previously banks were able to make small, incremental changes to meet the first internet-based challenges. But today’s ongoing digital disruption and re-regulation offer a tsunami of change that have chipped away at the competitive advantage banks used to enjoy. If banks want to win the game, they’ll have to win the customer relationship. The time is now for banks to take a few steps back — enough time to extract themselves from the hamster wheel of optimizing short-term profitability — to consider a longer-term vision that will buffer future uncertainty. There will be winners and losers. An example we are seeing from those who understand this is banks who are leveraging game-changing tech such as AI-powered Digital Humans to bring back the personal bank manager experience and differentiate themselves and their brand. —Nick Sokolich, global VP of sales, FaceMe

Ensure that technology is interoperable and there are both standards and APIs in place for easy integration to drive quick change. We think of this as Lego blocks where all the individual technology and pieces fit together to create a secure, simple experience. And, while the various pieces can stand on their own, there’s greater strength and resilience with the pieces coming together. —Jessica Turner, executive vice president, digital payments & labs, North America, Mastercard

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Ten years from now, what will be the No. 1 topic of conversation at Money 20/20?

That the Fed has announced that the U.S. dollar will now only be available in tokenized form — a decision made in response to the massive growth of phone-based payments and the clearly improved inclusion and equity of access that only the blockchain can provide. —JP Thieriot, CEO, Uphold

I believe we’re headed for a savings/retirement crisis over the next couple decades as the population ages and demographics shift. It’s estimated (U.S. Census) that by 2030, one in five people will be in retirement age — and the aging of baby boomers, thanks to health-care innovation, means that older people will outnumber children for the first time in U.S. history. If you have fewer working age adults for every adult in retirement, what happens? Who funds social security/medicare? Will pensions hold up? Humans are conditioned to look at problems only when the existential threat is upon them; I think this is going to be a hot topic. —Gary Beasley, CEO, Roofstock

How to use technology for more financial inclusion and social good. —Brett Crosby, COO, PeerStreet

Money20/20 (or whatever it is called) will continue to reflect on transformation within financial services, noting how much the services and delivery of financial services have been revolutionized amid ever-increasing volumes and better and better experiences, and ways for that to continue its revolutionary improvement while still powering our everyday lives in ways that feel familiar and comfortable. —Eric Byunn, partner, Centana Growth Partners

How wrong everyone was about bitcoin. —Devon Watson, CMO, Diebold Nixdorf

I anticipate that 10 years from now we’ll still be working to address inclusive economic opportunity for people and businesses across the spectrum to drive economic development. While the advancements in technology have created extraordinary opportunity, large portions of the population are still being left behind. That said, we’re already thinking through the next evolution: driving financial inclusion and improving financial health. At this rate, in 10 years the digitization of money, the rapid expansion of internet access, and further adoption of mobile phones will have created the perfect conditions to do just that. —Louise Pentland, chief business affairs & legal officer, PayPal

No one can claim to know what the hot topic will be at Money 20/20 a decade from now, but this much is clear: Any changes involving the form or appearance of money, whether it’s pieces of bronze or bitcoin, will pale in comparison to the changes in how we manage financial transactions. As an optimist, I believe that transactions will become even easier, even more efficient, and even more secure. And as those advances spread globally, the world will become more closely connected. —Frank D’Angelo, executive vice president of banking, NCR

The customer will continue to be the No. 1 topic of conversation at Money 20/20; however, much of the friction that’s spoken of today will have been addressed. The conversation in 10 years will focus on the ability of financial institutions to actuate services across channels, tailored to deeper understandings of customer lifestyles, preferences, and attitudes. Cognitive computing, AI, and ML will be key to the discussion as capabilities extend from behind the walls of financial institutions to devices that service customers and channels. —Al Slamecka, financial services industry lead, Cisco

Ten years from now, Money 20/20 will be a requiem on cash. There is already some nostalgia about cash today as we see governments around the world move to eliminate it from circulation in favor of QR codes and other advanced methods for routing payments, but the truth of the matter now is that cash is still king at point-of-sale transactions. In 10 years, that will no longer be the case, particularly in developed nations. My hope is that in 10 years, we may also be talking about how a truly global, cashless society and the technologies that weave our economies together are helping eradicate social ills from economic inequality to fraud, on a massive scale. —Deidre Campbell, global chair, financial services sector, Edelman

Each shift we saw in payments from cash to card, card to mobile, and mobile to cashierless required significant advances in data and analytics, as we’ve seen across the spectrum in fintech. The high velocity and variety of data combined with the need to make real-time decisions has driven powerful use cases for AI. The difference between using neural networks in the ’90s and newer techniques in AI today is the robustness and usefulness of data. In order to open the door to the next generation of services, data and innovative ways of using it will continue to drive the conversation. —Tricia Kemp, general partner, Oak HC/FT

The move toward biometrics as an authentication method could give way to biometrics as a payment method. Imagine having your bank or credit card tied to your face or a retinal scan? As these methods become more precise and secure, the likelihood of the digital wallet becoming obsolete is just a real as the physical wallet moving into obscurity today. —Maeve Duska, senior vice president of marketing & strategic development, USA Technologies

Commerce for a sustainable society. —Varun Krishna, VP of product, consumer group, Intuit

Ten years is not a very long time. Ten years ago, we were reeling from the Great Recession, trying to figure out what caused it and how to manage its outcomes. Today, leading economists are still trying to figure out what caused it and how to manage the next one. I could argue that we’ll still be talking about the same things in the 2028 edition of Money 20/20. I find this thought both depressing and boring, so let’s imagine a more interesting world for a second. Perhaps we will be talking more about what we owe the world and measuring the impact that financial services are having on reducing poverty, hunger, joblessness, and the fears associated with these crises. These issues affect not just American adults, but children and the disabled, people who served their country, and those who just happened to be born into poverty worldwide. Perhaps we will be talking about products that can improve all of us, not just some of us, and credit offerings that help the impoverished while still providing income for the lender. These conversations may sound off base, but we in the financial community could make a difference in billions of lives. I hope we take that challenge, not just in 10 years, but every day. —Douglas Merrill, CEO, ZestFinance

Ten years from now I think the No. 1 topic at Money 20/20 will be focused on the reliance of virtual assistants for saving and investing capabilities. Instead of utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning for mundane banking tasks (e.g., online chatbots), I think we’ll see banks and fintech companies relying on AI to train virtual assistants to provide customizable investment solutions based on a user's financial history and financial goals. —Dee Choubey, CEO, MoneyLion

With the way things are going now, it looks like it may be invisible payments. Our latest data shows that two-fifths of North American SMB merchants are looking beyond contactless payments in-store and are thinking about how they can introduce contact-free payments similar to Amazon Go. This is, in many ways, an amazing figure considering how few SMBs even offer contactless, but they are ambitious and looking to compete with their bigger rivals and they know how speed and efficiency of payments can help provide them with an edge. —Todd Linden, CEO of payment processing, North America, Paysafe

How individuals and companies monetize their own data will be top of mind. Ten years from now, data and information sharing will be extremely efficient and seamless. The value of personal data would be unlocked in such a way that personal finance and wealth management will have a data and activity component to it — rewarding individuals and companies for the activity and data input that they put into the broader data economy. —Elizabeth Pritchard, head of go-to-market, Crux Informatics

Data, data, data. —Jennifer Tescher, CEO, Center for Financial Services Innovation

Connected devices and payments experiences will rule in the future and this brings with it new complexities and risks associated with offering a seamless payments experience for consumers across many platforms and connected devices. New forms of authentication and engagement such as voice and biometrics will be more the norm and this notion of “waiting for my money” will be a distant memory. —Drew Edwards, CEO, Ingo Money

Looking into my crystal ball, I see global trade currency and payment standards that finally offer the ability to send payments cross-border in a single, consistent currency, which could be converted by the recipient into a local, fiat currency of their choice. —Lisa McFarland, chief product officer, Ingo Money

The overall reduction in household indebtedness driven by individualized financial products that match a specific consumer’s affordability needs. —Tomer Shoval, CEO, Simplee

I believe that large technology ecosystems will follow the precedent set by technology upstarts and begin to establish a presence in the financial services space. We have seen this already with Amazon. The future presence of these large players in the financial ecosystem will be driven by their desire to unearth new ways to monetize their data. It will be fascinating to see if the traditional banking institutions will embrace these large ecosystems with the same collaborative spirit displayed by technology upstarts. —Michael Finkelstein, CEO, The Credit Junction

With the rate of change we’re experiencing, that’s really hard to predict, but I suspect globalization will continue to be an important topic, as well as blockchain. —Pierre Habis, president, PurePoint Financial

Ten years from now, we’ll no longer talk about financial access because access will have become universal. By then, the conversation will have shifted to usage: Are the products really being actively used? And in 10 years, we’ll be more focused on the outcomes. Does active usage of these basic financial tools significantly help the financial health of our clients? That’s the real goal! —Michael Schlein, CEO, Accion

In 10 years, we will have an even more globalized, interconnected world, and the large global tech platforms will continue to be the infrastructure for that connectedness. I expect that they will use that role to further expand into the provision of financial services, and will be settled as key — if not primary — players in the financial services space. At Money20/20 2028, I expect we will need to talk a lot about how issues like privacy and data ownership inform the decisions those companies make. With great power comes great responsibility. —Vikas Raj, managing director, Accion Venture Lab

The future of payments changes so rapidly that accurately predicting conversations 10 years from now is nearly impossible. However, I can predict what the conversation will NOT be about: blockchain. I predict that bitcoin will become irrelevant and companies will no longer be interested in the use of what we currently think of as cryptocurrency for digital payments. Fiat-based platforms, like nanopay, will rise to the industry’s challenge of making instant and secure digital payments. Unlike crypto, fiat-based platforms are easily scalable and adopted by financial institutions, and per-transaction costs are much cheaper than using blockchain technologies and distributed consensus. —Nicko van Someren, chief security officer, nanopay

Ten years from now, I think people might be talking about a world without currencies. This will be a world focused not on currency exchange, but on value exchange, and I think we need to start to consider what this means for businesses, customers, and the flow of money globally. —Jean Claude Farah, president of global payments, Western Union

Building connections. In a way, it’s what we’re talking about now: A lot of payments innovation is about how to keep payments out of the way of building connections. The future is about how payments can support building connections. While we’ve begun to approach in the abstract the goal of building connections through our discussions of big data, we must become much more familiar with this topic in the concrete. Right now, the industry is working to make your payments stop feeling like a frustrating piece of purchasing that you have to do to get their product. In 10 years, it will be all about what your method of payment does for you. —Trish Mosconi, executive vice president, business strategy & development, Synchrony

Death of the ISO. Blockchain vs. big banks. Digital currency. —Suneera Madhani, CEO, Fattmerchant

A lot can change in 10 years, so it’s hard to say what what we’ll be talking about then. In the consumer banking sector, however, I hope to see a more integrated use of AI across the value chain than what we see today. Our stance is that machine learning will allow the bank of the future to become much more adaptive to customers’ financial needs and solve problems in a more intuitive and personalized way. Going along with that, I think tech innovation will also drive greater financial inclusion worldwide. The prevalence of smartphones, for example, enables us to reach more customers in more places who otherwise would not have access to banking services. —Nicolas Kopp, U.S. CEO, N26

We won’t be talking about any kind of payment hardware because payments will just happen through facial recognition and other biometric means. Perhaps we’ll be talking about how to move money from Earth to Mars! But seriously, cryptocurrency and blockchain will be in full flight and people will be innovating fintech based on those technologies. —Tom Villante, CEO, Yapstone

Technology companies will be pitching tailored solutions for specific industries/use cases that build on top of foundational blocks — lightweight, interoperable protocol and centralized biometrics. What does it take to book a ride to go the moon? The consumer expects it to be as seamless as booking an Uber ride! —Kasturi Mudulodu, VP of product management, Yapstone

Some of the financial sectors that tech has only started to improve, like insurance, will move to the forefront of conversation. With the rise of autonomous vehicles and increasingly sophisticated data sourcing and analytics capabilities, we’ll see more innovation in insurance products and services, like “on-demand” policies and short-term protection for consumers in emerging markets; increased partnerships between legacy insurers and nimble tech companies and data providers; and continued debate around regulatory changes, challenges, and opportunities. —Brendan Carroll, senior partner, Victory Park Capital

How the fierce competition between conventional fractional reserve banks and emerging narrow banks, which are able to provide transactional services in a stable, seamless and organic fashion, is shaping the entire financial landscape. “Money” will be completely and seamlessly integrated into all products and services, so there will be no need to have a conference on financial services and financial technology as a separate category. The best payment companies are not actually payment services providers. Think about your Starbucks or Uber app — the payment is seamless and in the background. We no longer have to think or do anything about the payment and can focus on the actual customer experience. —Shamir Karkal, CEO, Sila

I think that the disruptive effects of technology and globalization will continue to be primary drivers of discussions. While in 10 years, security and privacy may still be problems to be solved, it is my personal hope that the topic of conversation will move to focus on the opportunities that technological advances present, such as creating a more inclusive and financially fairer industry. Collectively, we have the power to transform lives and communities, and as business leaders, we should make sure that the technology empowers all segments of society and make meaningful impacts to those less fortunate. —Terrence Richardson, head of corporate communications & sponsorships, Group1001

If the previous decade was about digitization, the next will be about personalization in a hyper-connected world — placing the customer at the heart of every single innovation. Tech that empowers companies to do that will rise above the noise and take center stage on future Money 20/20 stages. —Nick Sokolich, global VP of sales, FaceMe

The future means different things to different people, but the possibilities are endless as long as we stay focused on solving for people. Ten years from now, we will look at a slew of new technology but with a people focus — talking about how it can all enable new, secure payment experiences for people, making life even simpler. —Jessica Turner, executive vice president, digital payments & labs, North America, Mastercard

What do you think? Add your own responses in the comments below.