Digital Trends in Payments

Kaloyan Yanchev, Head of Payment Methods at Nexo

I have been working in the payments industry for more than ten years, but I must say, it was never so interesting as today. There are so many new players in the ecosystem, genuine innovations, and improvements— one word can summarize it, digitalization.

We are down the road of digitalization for quite some time, but this process was rapidly accelerated with the recent pandemic. We see a fundamental transformation led by the ‘younger’ entrants— fintech, in all their forms. I want to share my top trends-

1. Crypto - this is by far the hottest topic recently. The most important aspect of digital assets is that these are now mainstream. A few years ago, crypto was very exotic, but today, we see all payment companies setting digital assets as their top priority. Consumers want flexibility and speed, and there is no doubt you can get those with crypto. The adoption of cryptocurrencies has never been so vast, and we might see this process even accelerated with the proper regulations in place. We also see that even the traditional card networks are open to crypto. There are more crypto-enabled cards, and the number will only grow. In the past, the motivation behind crypto was speculation and investment, but this will shift to payments.

2. Contactless/Mobile Payments - we cannot live without our phones these days and use our smartphones for pretty much everything. Payments are part of our everyday lives, and we want a frictionless experience in our busy days. Contactless payments offer exactly this, making them so easy to use. It is not strange why most of the focus and innovations are directed at contactless payments. The recent pandemic also helped this process, and we prefer contactless payments today more than ever.

3. Super App - I lived in China back in the day for a while, and I learned the importance of the super app. WeChat was used for everything— communication, payments, bookings, taxis, and so on. This trend is global now. The rise of super apps is impressive. The digital banks started this trend, and now you can use these applications for a checking account with a card and for investing, trading, and cross-border payments. You do not need to leave the applications— you can manage all the services through your mobile phone.

4. Payments as Additional Revenue - back in the day, payments were just a necessary tool. But this is not the situation anymore. Companies realize the potential and use improved payment process as a competitive edge. Improving the consumer experience during the payment process directly contributes to growth. Offering relevant payment options and a sound checkout process leads to more sales and higher revenue. It is not only adding many payment options but selecting the relevant ones for the particular consumer. And once this is clear, the payment journey should be optimized and adequately delivered.

We live in a fast-moving environment, and payments can no longer live in the background. Payments should be part of a carefully selected strategy, and digitalization is a significant part of it. The innovations should be implemented but in the right way. Digitalization could be the right differentiator for a business, delivering additional revenue and more satisfied consumers, and crypto should be adopted sooner than later.