This raises the interesting question of how to support Cash also has an important role in bringing many
peer-to-peer payments, such as when friends split a bill.
of the disadvantaged in society into the economy.
Typically, these debts are settled with cash, or via the Any effort to create a cashless society must ensure
time-honoured ritual of friends taking it in turns to pay on that people who are unbanked or unable to obtain
subsequent outings, or simply refusing to accept
credit can access the services they need.
settlement of small debts. Solutions are emerging that allow individuals to transfer money directly between
There is clear evidence that the use of cash will decline accounts, both from established financial institutions (a in the long term. There is also government impetus to
good example is goMoney
eliminate cash, partly as a cost saving and partly to
42 from ANZ) and start-ups
(where Venmo
hamper organised crime. However, the future of
43 and Snapcash44 are experiencing some
success on university campuses).
payments may not simply be to replace physical money
and payment solutions with more secure
The trend for the payment to be embedded in the value
and streamlined digital equivalents. We also need
-added service between merchant and customer is
to consider how the changing relationship
being replicated by peer-to-peer payments as firms
between merchants and consumers is removing
integrate payments into social media platforms.
the need to transact at the point of sale.
Facebook is integrating payments into Messenger, its
messaging app. The intention is to capture messages
Increasingly, we are choosing to transact with merchants that imply payments, such as tel ing a friend “the movie and peers with whom we have a relationship, often
ticket was $10”, and to convert the dol ar amount into a mediated by social media. We are managing these
hyperlink to make a payment to the initiating party. The relationships via a shared store of value that behaves intention is that a debt organised via Facebook (such
as a complementary currency. We’re using this to
as when a group of friends organise to go to the
move purchases away from the point of sale, both in
cinema together) is also settled via Facebook.
time and in space, so we can focus on our relationship and the value created rather than the need to transact These informal arrangements become more difficult
with an individual or organisation we don’t trust. We
to organise as transactions move away from the point
are not just replacing physical payments with digital –
of sale. The cinema outing, for example, may result in swapping our leather wallet for an e-wallet – but we
each individual in a group wanting to buy their tickets are also moving the payment from the centre of the
separately so the purchase is associated with their
relationship to the edge.
own loyalty account (and any bonuses and discounts)
rather than that of the organiser. Peers will need to
However, if electronic payments are to replace
choose between exchanging value via their
physical ones, all use cases need to be covered,
transactional payments app (provided either by their
including various permutations of peer-to-peer
bank or a start -up), via a shared social network, or
payments and support for the disadvantaged and
potentially via a common loyalty scheme.
unbanked in society. While cash may be low-tech, it
is very flexible and inclusive and we can expect it to We can expect cash to have a continued (though
be part of the payments landscape for some time.
diminished) presence in peer-to-peer transactions.
Even though it is low-tech, it is flexible and can be
used in circumstances in which two individuals
who want to split a bill don’t share the same bank,
social network, or loyalty program.
The Future of Exchanging Value Cryptocurrencies and the trust economy 41
