New banking technologies being used by currency companies
Change is the only constant’. These words of the Greek philosopher Heraclitus could not have been truer but in this age of information. Innovation is the key to excellence. Skype made international calling outdated, recruitment and hiring got transformed with LinkedIn, e-commerce is making physical malls look old-fashioned.
The other factor that has, is, and probably always will drive the world of business is money. It therefore makes complete sense that these two: technological innovation and currency, come together. And this is exactly what most currency companies have in mind.
Year 2016 is witnessing some major technological breakthroughs. As everything, right from shopping to keeping up with friends, to watching your favorite TV shows, is being digitized, the avenues for technological intervention are seeing broader horizons Here’s what the currency companies are up to this year, in terms of the new technologies they are or plan to use:
Bitcoins: Most banking and money transfer organizations consider Bitcoins as the future of all financial transactions. They are taking over the crypto-currency marketplace. Many large companies such as PayPal, SimplePay, Stripe, etc. are accepting bitcoins as a legitimate source of fund. Actually, the technology underpinning bitcoin is blockchain. This technology helps maintain a permanent record, across all networked databases, of any recent transaction online.
Alternative Payment Services: There are several currency companies that are offering customers alternative methods of payment, besides the conventional method of divulging bank account or credit card details. These companies aim to streamline the online payment process for customers, and also make it cheaper and safer. Dwolla, PayPal, and Square are some such leading companies.
Near Field Communication: NFC protocol is enabling communication between two electronic devices by bringing them within about 4 cm of each other. NFC enabled devices can be used in contactless payment systems. Google through Android 4.4 and Apple through Apple Pay, announced support for NFC-powered transactions.
Remote Deposit Capture: RDC is one of the fastest growing trends with the currency companies. It’s a boon for those busy customers who dread taking out time to go to a bank for depositing cheque. With RDC, all you need is a scanner, computer, and an internet connection. Customers remotely scan the front and back of a cheque and transmit the cheque image to the bank, usually via an encrypted internet connection. This is a fast, hassle-free method for check processing.
Donation Texts: P2P mobile applications in association with plain old text messages are eliminating the need to travel to a physical location to move cash. This is proving to be particularly useful for live mobile fundraising campaigns. The ebay owned service PayPal allows you to transfer money via text domestically as well as internationally. Several other players such as Amazon (after acquiring textpayme.com) allow you to send and receive money through accounts made with them. The list is soon going to get longer with the pace at which both competition and research in the field of finance is growing. The coming months are going to offer some interesting applications, services, and norms, some of which may prove game changers too.