Who can we trust with our money?
Francisco Benedito
Co-Founder & CEO ClimateTrade | Co-founder Climatecoin | Disruptive Change Business Leader 2022 Forbes Spain | 100 Latinos for #ClimateAction | Top 100 #FinTech #SDGs #Entrepreneur - Let’s decarbonise the world ??
As a former banker and having gone over different initiatives to permit transfers of money with no need of banks, I understand that e-money is something that won't take too long to be embraced by most of the population.
80% of China population already pays with their phone through QR codes (1.360 mm population) and this is a clear example of the future that we expect as there, 2 companies that people trust, funnel all payments.
Phone or any other devices payments permit to pay with "e-money" and it is a matter of time that another method of payment that might be different from countries currencies or “e-currencies” is accepted. People might embrace one or different methods of payment (might be Facebook Libra, or any other) that they trust if they are stable. We trust Paypal to pay against our bank account, to hold our money and our credit card, which is the difference to make it against any other method of payment that we trust and that they can generate?. My fears would be the stability of the currency, usability, security, and guarantor. Once we solve this properly, people will be willing to use it.
Regarding cryptocurrencies, people like them as their decentralized nature but volatility and control of mining processes and therefore its price, makes it hard to be embraced as we cannot deposit confidence on something that does not have stability and therefore next day might not permit me to pay for my rent or my kid’s school. Stablecoins have a lot to say here in the next years…
Also, another issue to be considered is the sustainability of e-currency generation, which is the power consumption of their generation? where is the source of power coming from?. Agreement and associations in this space will appear suddenly.
Also, Governments e-currencies are something coming soon and we have some examples already. Who is going to win the battle? Who knows yet?, but initially Governments might be able to block at some point some methods of payment if they start feeling scared of them. Time will tell!
"Are You Climate Ready?" at @AYCR1234
5 年Virtual currencies, which I understand is the new term for cryptos, is likely to have a dramatic increase, as Francisco points out. There are more motivating reasons to make the shift. I expect the speed opportunity to also play a part. Moving money through a bank, while it takes seconds (or less) is often held by banks for 24 to 48 hours, at a cost to the customer and the recipient.? Virtual currencies might be come the preferred option for the 'unbanked' over traditional institutions. Anyone playing in the infrastructure side must be vigilant on unscrupulous players, as trust is the foundation.
"It's impossible. No, it's necessary."
5 年Very interesting article and graphics my friend. Congratulations!