Creating a better wallet experience

Contactless payment technology is almost ubiquitous across brick-and-mortar retail and will continue to drive the future of digital banking. Whether it’s through the countless mobile payments apps or even DeFi platforms using cryptocurrencies, contactless payment trends are only increasing. Let’s look at why this is happening.

Reducing friction at checkout

Businesses are constantly thinking about how to reduce friction at checkout, and allow their customers the easiest buying process. Technologies like mobile payment apps and digital wallet adoption have done significant work on this front, allowing both online and in-store customers a better shopping experience.

Getting buy-in from consumers

For their part, consumers are trending toward contactless payments. Contactless payment technology from the likes of technology giants like Apple and Samsung are becoming commonplace, and for good reason. From a smartphone device, users can now hold all of their payment methods. These fintech innovations are rendering the traditional leather wallet and purse obsolete. 

Blockchains are the next evolution

Ledger technology as seen in blockchains are the next iteration of contactless payments. Not only will DeFi platforms allow for contactless payments, they have the potential to have almost instant settlement times, benefiting merchants as well. It’s likely that mobile payment apps will begin to integrate with blockchain ledgers to utilize these key features.

What’s left to innovate 

On the surface, it may seem that contactless payments trends will flatline with nowhere else to innovate. But there is still a lot left to do. Interoperability between payment channels, creating universal contactless payment technology, and stablecoins for cryptocurrency users are all areas in which the contactless payments industry can continue to evolve. Of course, the companies working on these innovations will have to clearly differentiate themselves as to why their products benefit users in order to succeed.