{"id":42982,"date":"2014-08-16T14:57:06","date_gmt":"2014-08-16T13:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=42982"},"modified":"2014-08-16T15:10:12","modified_gmt":"2014-08-16T14:10:12","slug":"next-gen-payments-cybercurrency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/next-gen-payments-cybercurrency\/","title":{"rendered":"Next Gen Payments and Cybercurrency"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cybercurrency is Slowly Making its Way Around the Globe<\/h3>\n
\"\u201cSpace,<\/a>

\u201cSpace, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its 5-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.\u201d Capt. James T. Kirk, \u201cStar Trek,\u201d Desilu<\/p><\/div>\n

Standing in the Starbucks line the other day I watched folks stand there with their eyes glazed over as they chose the size, flavor, foam\/cream they wanted and then had to decide if they were going to pay with cash, credit, debit or Starbucks card or if they were going to use their smartphone.<\/p>\n

How archaic.<\/p>\n

How cumbersome.<\/p>\n

How confusing, since the value of the transaction varies according to where in the world you are.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re in Iceland, Greece, Japan, Maldives, the U.S., wherever, it\u2019s the same planet but different money.<\/p>\n

However, take Kirk, Spock, the Enterprise (we know, weird logic).<\/p>\n

They bravely went from world to world and never had a payment issue; it was one \u201cunderstood\u201d standard.<\/p>\n

Why can\u2019t we do the same here on earth?<\/p>\n

Oh, that\u2019s right, there are too many folks making too much money as go-betweens.<\/p>\n

Use a credit\/debit card and you pay for something and one or more intermediaries take a slice for passing the transaction\/payment through their system (1s and 0s not money); and in the U.S., someone(s) got paid $71.7B according to Nilson Report.<\/p>\n

Use it enough and the magnetic strip wears out.<\/p>\n

Phone companies, big merchants, cute new consolidation cards, smartphone apps\/add-ons and more have tried to get a piece of the action.<\/p>\n

People keep falling back on using paper money I guess because you can feel it, touch it, count it.<\/p>\n

\"Untitled-2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Money is Heavy<\/strong> \u2013 Old-fashioned cash is a real bear to carry with you all the time. Just think back on how difficult it was to carry a million dollars with you just in case. Suddenly, the fun is all gone.<\/em><\/p>\n

Admit it, it\u2019s really cumbersome to carry large sums around.<\/p>\n

And paper denominations last only a year or two before they\u2019re recycled.<\/p>\n

The real pain is they vary from country to country for no real reason.<\/p>\n

Look at it, they say it\u2019s worth something but it\u2019s just a piece of paper backed by your\/ their government and you know how solvent your\/their government is.<\/p>\n

If they transfer sums of your paper money to some other city, state, country; they do it electronically (1s, 0s).<\/p>\n

Logic says there\u2019s no need for all of these environmentally-consuming alternatives that are worth something based on their promise.<\/p>\n

Instead, the world just might as well take a leap into the final frontiers and convert to BitCoin or some singular electronic standard of pluses and minuses.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve had the promise of the mobile wallet bouncing around \u2014 payment by hitting a button on a phone \u2014 and a host of start-ups keep trying to cash in on it.<\/p>\n

But as Spock said, \u201cA machine can be computerized, not a man.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

They face the same hurdles as those who came before them \u2014 people aren\u2019t aware of the new payment systems, folks are confused by the choices and stodgy folks think mobile is just a new-fangled idea when they\u2019re happy with pockets full of cash, credit cards.<\/p>\n

\"Untitled-3\"<\/a>What is it Worth<\/strong> \u2013 Look at folding currency and what does it say \u2026 promissory note or something like that. It\u2019s easier to use your smartphone to transfer 1s and 0s and it\u2019s still a promise.<\/em><\/p>\n

Of course, that doesn\u2019t stop folks from talking about, wishing for a mobile payment revolution.<\/p>\n

Samsung tried. Google offered Google Wallet. Apple\u2019s Cook called it \u201can area of interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Untitled-4\"<\/a>Mobile Billfold<\/strong> \u2013 Millenials and younger folks are becoming increasingly comfortable with alternative banking and using their smartphone to conduct all of their business transactions.<\/em><\/p>\n

Gartner estimated that worldwide, people spent $235.4 billion through mobile payments last year, compared to $163.1 billion in 2012.<\/p>\n

But that number is much smaller in North America, where consumers spent about $37 billion through mobile transactions in 2013, up from $24 billion the year before.<\/p>\n

That seems trivial to the global flow of money, even if you go back a few years.<\/p>\n

\"Untitled-5\"<\/a>Big Float<\/strong> \u2013 The global supply of money keeps increasing but the amount of currency in circulation has remained relatively constant.<\/em><\/p>\n

Since Nixon closed the gold window back in \u201971, it\u2019s become obvious that it is<\/strong><\/em> all just funny money!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s sorta\u2019 like Dick Cheney saying, “Deficits don’t really matter”.<\/em><\/p>\n

That means digital currencies are a “killer app” for mobile commerce.<\/p>\n

After all, they must be real because the IRS classified crypto-currencies as a taxable \u201casset.\u201d New York\u2019s Dept of Financial Services asked people interested in trading in virtual currencies to contact them, several online firms have offered to use them as payments; so whatever it is, it just might work.<\/p>\n

\"Untitled-6\"<\/a>Digital Money<\/strong> \u2013 While cybercurrency presently has cache with the technical crowd, it is being increasingly accepted by individuals and organizations around the globe.<\/em><\/p>\n

As close as I can determine cyber-money isn\u2019t much different from an individual country\u2019s reserve notes.<\/p>\n

Of course, Wall Street and the banks can\u2019t control it; so that may hold it back a little.<\/p>\n

Even though cyber-currency doesn\u2019t have a legal tender status \u2013 anywhere \u2013 that isn\u2019t stopping governments from trying to regulate it … once they (and we) figure out exactly what \u201cit\u201d is.<\/p>\n

Or, as Scotty said, \u201cWe have a saying: ‘Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me’.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Untitled-7\"<\/a>Variety<\/strong> \u2013 Organization with digital wallet solutions are all pushing hard to become one of the winning standards, including traditional sources like banks and credit card firms. Digital wallet solutions have long been used in Africa and the Far East for micropayments.<\/em><\/p>\n

All of the other mobile payment schemes we\u2019ve come up with seem to be bridge solutions that are still based on some plastic or paper.<\/p>\n

If we can get an international standard cyber-currency that is universally accepted, logic says that passing through the Internet should be a lot less costly for both the seller and the buyer.<\/p>\n

Of course, there\u2019s always that gnawing concern about security.<\/p>\n

Bad people already know how to sniff out digital signatures on digital wallets. So now all they need to do is focus on the exchanges and places where your cyber-currency exists.<\/p>\n

Hey, the idea is great!<\/p>\n

Of course, the devil is in the details since I guess someone has to regulate it like the World Bank or heck, we could all fire up our systems and knock out a big bunch of 1s and 0s.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s nothing worse than an oversupply \u2026 of anything.<\/p>\n

Kirk tried alternative payments but when folks started hoarding and things got out of hand, he went back to universal payments.<\/p>\n

\"Untitled-8\"<\/a>He simply ordered, \u201cI want these things off my ship! I don\u2019t care if it takes every man we\u2019ve got \u2013 I want them off the ship!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

# # #<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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