It’s amazing how history has a habit of repeating itself and, at the May 2019 A.I. & Blockchain summit in Malta, I was thrust 88 mph back in time to February 2012. At this time, I was a fresh-faced 27-year-old attending my first ICE conference.
I remember it vividly because I was new to the gambling and payments industries, watching fellow attendees bump into person-after-person – embracing one another like old friends. More importantly, they knew their stuff and spoke with authority whilst people – myself included – listened intently. It was at that moment I knew I wanted to be like them. Thereafter, I set about becoming a payments expert.
Fast forward to May 23rd, 2019. I’m once again attending my first conference, only this time it’s all about crypto and blockchain. emerchantpay and I have been working with crypto merchants for a couple of years, but this was my first taste of it on an industry-wide level. Just like 2012, I’m surrounded by field experts. The difference this time, however, is that I’m the one holding conversations while others try to understand what payment processing is.
After the first four hours of the show, I was left proclaiming “Great Scott” to my colleague Rob Dowling, who is a crypto ‘veteran’. “A lot of these guys don’t understand payments or the benefits a strong partner can bring”, I said. It left us drawing comparisons with online gambling 15 years previous, when it was in its infancy.
It’s gambling cousin had many years to prosper relatively under the radar until the early 10’s. The crypto and blockchain industry has grown quickly in an era of social media therefore faced far greater global public scrutiny than gambling had to from the off. It took a long time for schemes, regulators and governments to get to grips with online gambling and now it seems to be a case of once bitten twice shy for crypto exchanges and blockchain.
However, it’s benefits and appeal to experts, governments, organisations and the common man are clear for all to see. Blockchain technology is being used all over the world for a wide range of purposes, whilst crypto exchanges are trading hundreds of millions of dollars per day!
As I mentioned earlier, I have worked with crypto exchanges for a couple of years now and am aware of their potential. However, as the conference went on and I saw the industry as a whole for the first time, it became explicit to me that this is no McFly-by-night fad. It’s here for the long run.
That said, when it comes to payments, this disruptive and futuristic technology is stuck at the enchantment under the sea dance and lagging behind many other industries – for now. Is this because the largest share of traders are from the US, where chip and pin is only just being adopted, or is fiat payment processing an afterthought in the race to get to market and become the next bitcoin?
One thing’s for sure. My eight years in the industry have taught me that you overlook payments at your peril. The right partner will help you increase turnover, expand into new markets and improve user experience.