Blockchain is increasingly being considered as one of the most promising areas that will shape the future. It is reckoned to be one of the most valuable technologies because of its capacity to deliver high-quality, reliable information to a wide group of interested parties. Beyond the security implications and increased transparency of transactions for all parties, whether institutions or customers, blockchain is sure to bring beneficial impact on pricing and costs in the market.

IoT and Blockchain Technology in the Payments Industry

The collision between the IoT and blockchain worlds portends some important payments industry developments around the efficient tracking of device payment history, all supported by a ledger of secure data exchanges among devices, web systems and users. Further, this technological convergence also shows promise in terms of the use of smart devices that are programmed to conduct a variety of transactions such as the automatic issuance of invoices and payments.   It facilitates a lot in terms of invoice, payable and receivable experiences of clients. Aspirationally, being able to track these logistics in a manner that’s clear and transparent via blockchain [technology] is very appealing. It has a high level of integrity as a technology and cannot be questioned in terms of its functionality.

NanoBNK and the Payment industry 

With NanoBNK, it is clear that for payments, blockchain has the potential to increase the speed and security as well as decrease the cost associated, although the impact of it may not be felt overnight. A recent poll of payments professionals conducted by the European Payments Council, for instance, found that 90% expect blockchain will have some effect on the payments landscape by 2025.

To get a handle on blockchain and payments, it’s important to understand how the technology differs from the current methods. One way to compare blockchain technology is with debit or credit card transactions. In a debit card transaction, for example, a merchant processes a customer’s personal card that’s encoded with sensitive information and decides how much to pull from an account based on the transaction total.

Conversely, with cryptocurrencies the customer decides how much money to pay a merchant while providing zero sensitive information. In that way, cryptocurrencies have a lot more in common with cash than a debit card.

Outside of retail commerce, there has been heavy speculation about the potential impact blockchain technology will have on the greater financial industry.  For its part, Visa® has begun experimenting with blockchain payments.