The Future of Exchanging Value Cryptocurrencies and the trust economy 55
The tools of exchanging value – the bill, (physical) credit We noticed that consumers find the process of handing
cards and even the wallet – were created to manage trust over some form of money to the merchant to be annoying.
in a world where we had little, if any, information about It’s not that we don’t want to pay merchants for the goods who we were dealing with. Debt and credit will always
and services, but we prefer it if the payment happens at exist, but the tools to manage the relationship between the edge of our shared relationship rather than in the two parties can change dramatically. Simply digitising our middle, as services as diverse as Skip and Uber have
existing wallets – swapping leather for bits
demonstrated. The focus on optimising the existing
– does not address the changing nature of trust.
payment process, removing pain points and transforming Digital technology is changing how we interact with the physical wallets to e-wallets represents a legacy approach world, but it is also changing how we relate to each
based on how merchants have done things in the past,
other, which is often overlooked. The disruption
not how customers want to interact with merchants in the narrative that seems to dominate conversations today
future. This is a production-centred mindset, in which the comes from a strongly technological determinist world
merchant defines the relationship with the customer.
view, though no technology has ever survived intact
Digital technology has changed this relationship, with the after contact with society. We need to consider society balance of power shifting to the consumer, who now sets and technology together to understand what the future
the ground rules. The consumer now defines the value,
will bring.
and the mindset is consumption-centred. We believe this creates an opportunity for merchants to use loyalty
In our first report on exchanging value, we found that schemes to manage their relationships with customers.
consumer preference rather than technology would
They can use these schemes as a shared store of value, be the strongest force shaping how we measure,
in effect a complementary currency. This provides both store and exchange value. We’d come to the end of
merchants and customers with much greater control over the technology build-out phase, and our focus was
the relationship. Merchants can use the shared store of shifting from deploying infrastructure to streamlining value to move the payment away from the exchange of
the buying journey from the pieces and parts to the
goods or provision of service both in time and in space to whole. The focus for many organisations was on
create a ‘sunk cost’ that fosters customer loyalty.
removing pain points from the established processes
Customers can use the shared store
for clearance and settlement.
of value to streamline their interactions with the
In this report, we’ve dug deeper to understand how
merchant and simplify access to loyalty rewards,
consumer behaviour is changing. Trust has
allowing them to focus on what they care about:
emerged as one of, if not the, most important factor
interacting with employees and building the relationship, in the future of exchanging value. Money is best
not transacting. However, expanding loyalty schemes in seen as a technology for resolving obligations
this way can bring merchants under the purview of
between individuals who don’t know, or don’t trust,
AML/CTF regulations, which the airlines with their
each other and for whom barter is too awkward.
mature loyalty schemes are all too aware of.
