The Rise Of Blockchain-Based Mobile Payment Networks
While browsing my regular news feeds for today, keeping myself updated with what happens in the crypto world (a daunting task, I agree, but a worthy one), I stumbled upon a pice of news which raised my eyebrow.
According to Korea Times, a Korean mobile carrier, LG U+ (an LG company) will start a cross-border payment solution, based on... you guessed, the blockchain!
LG U+ partnered with two mobile carriers, one from Taiwan (Far East Communication) and the other from Japan (SoftBank), with which the solution will be tested first.
So, according to the same source, here's what this cross-border payment solution actually means:
Once the service is launched, LG Uplus subscribers will be able to buy things at selected retailers using their mobile phones when they travel to Taiwan and Japan.
Far EasTone subscribers will also be able to enjoy the same convenience when traveling to Korea and Japan.
The service uses direct carrier billing, enabling transactions to be billed and paid through their carrier in their home currency.
Although it may look like "yet another hype blockchain move by established businesses", I think this is much more than that.
Here's why.
1. Mobile carriers already have relevant user bases, and very high usage rates (everybody uses a mobile phone these days, much more than a computer)
2. Mobile carriers already have fiat payment solutions in place. Things like "pay by SMS" are very common for more than 10 years now.
3. Because the solution is based on blockchain, and not on some legacy technology, it means it can be interconnected with "real" crypto tokens, quite easily (not from the beginning, probably, but very soon after launch).
I don't think we will see this in real life sooner than a couple of years (LG U+ said they will start testing early next year) but I do think this will drastically increase adoption.
There is this steep learning curve when it comes to crypto economics - and blockchain, generally speaking - which may be toned down (if not nullified completely) if it's masked behind some familiar activity, like paying with an SMS. The end user doesn't really need to know all that mining stuff, Proof of Stake theories and alike. All they want is to spend some money.
I also think this move will shift the blockchain core user base from fintech aficionados (people interested in "new money" and "financial freedom"), to mobile phone users, a bigger, fuzzier and more diluted demographic, but one that will be able to boost usage well beyond our most optimistic expectations.
I don't know of another initiative like this, from a major mobile phone company, so if you know about one, please leave it in the comments, I'd love to do more research on this topic.
I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua.
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It is nice to see how little by little, big players in any industry are implementing blockchain solutions. You get the same feeling of the dot.com early times but a much faster rate due to hyperconnection.
I was reading more about xRapid, so I missed this piece of news. Mobile payments would be a huge win if they can use blockchain! Huge user base, and no need to mess around with the messy backend. Exactly the ingredients needed for mass adoption!
I possibly sees it as a media hype, it also helps to boost bussiness, this is surely an innovative idea to help bussiness growth.
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You're talking about a mobile payment solution? XRP and Stellar are already used for bank-to-bank cross-border payments.
@dragosroua I am Really Excited to see what AIRWIRE may do for overall acceptance of Cryptos................
Giant step
Need bit more speed in adoption of technology
In your post you just stole what I was going to comment:
Mobile users are very many even in countries that don't have good percentage of technology users. I heard there are people who have facebook account but don't know that they're accessing the internet when they open facebook. Some things are too common you don't question them.
When someone can change his thoughts, then he can change the whole world .
Hey, @dragosroua.
A good step forward. The more everyday uses people connect to the blockchain, the wider the adoption of crypto will spread. Hopefully more than just the big cryptos can get in on it, too.
It sounds like they are at least trying to get it right from the beginning, too, if it truly ends up being easy and intuitive and largely behind the scenes. The mainstream user isn't going to want to make computations with exchange rates every time they buy something.
I'm not a techie but I think Stellar and Ripple are also focused on cross border payment solutions. But I think they are looking at commercial customers i.e. banks