According to leading consumer survey reports, there is more interest in digital payment than ever before. This aspect of the global financial sector continues to grow at a fast pace thanks to several factors. These range from such things as technological advancements to broader adoption of emerging options as well as the growing prevalence of digital commerce.
Today, about 80 percent of the US population, for instance, has access to and actively uses one form of digital payment service. This is relatively easy to see considering the impressive increase in omnichannel support by both new and existing payment platforms. As it turns out, this is just the beginning.
We are now just three months into 2022, and thanks to the dynamic nature of the sector, we can likely expect some more changes in the year. All this is primarily driven by the uptick in some trends in digital payments. While their impacts may be subtle, they certainly play a massive role in what will be the future of global finance.
Some of the most notable digital payment trends you should pay attention to this year include:
The Surge in Mobile Wallet Use
Millions of people in the United States use a variety of mobile wallets for just about every digital transaction that they make. That is not surprising at all. In addition to offering unmatched levels of convenience, mobile wallets are now widely accepted. It is possible to use PayPal, Venmo, and other mobile wallets to make purchases, renew subscriptions and even send money to friends and family.
For online gamers, lots of people are using Cash App as a deposit method at their favorite online casinos. Some of the mobile wallets have trickled down from traditional payment options, which makes them easy to switch to regardless of the place and time. Moreover, they continue to appeal to more customers as they add other incentives. Many of them offer such things as rewards and cashback.
The mobile market has proven to be a very lucrative market for just about any business. That said, continued capitalization on this massive market is still set to be a big deal in 2022. More merchants, online gambling operators, and other online service providers will double down on mobile-optimized offerings as a result.
More Crypto in the Mainstream
Crypto already made a splash in 2022 thanks to the ads that some companies in the sector ran during the Super Bowl. Being one of the country’s most notable annual events, the Super Bowl brought the crypto gospel to even more people. It not only offered a glimpse of what the sector is all about but it also introduced new audiences to some of the leading companies in that industry.
While mainstream adoption of crypto has picked up pace over the last few years, efforts to achieve that have been stifled by several factors. Volatility is an excellent example of why many people are still skeptical about the future of crypto. It was also mostly a reserve for tech-savvy demographics.
Some of these issues are still with us, but we are very optimistic about crypto gaining more mainstream traction in 2022. It is becoming both a viable store of value as well as a feature-filled medium of exchange. Lots of brands have jumped on the crypto bandwagon in the past year, and we expect the same to happen over the year.
Contactless Payments and Biometric Authentication
Digital payment is generally always bound to give traditionally physical payment methods a run for their money. However, due to the persistence of physical Point-of-Sale (POS) systems, it is becoming increasingly apparent that they are here to stay. Contactless payment has seen a surge in popularity over the past couple of years. This is mainly a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thankfully, most of the contactless payment technologies are already built right into modern mobile devices. This further adds to the increasing use of mobile Point-of-Sale (mPOS) systems. So far, it is paying off very well. More merchants will likely be moving in this direction.
Another critical change that is also worth paying attention to is the replacement of the codes, passwords, and PINs with biometrics. Surprisingly, while biometric authentication systems have been used on consumer computing devices, they have been very slow to come to the financial sector. Different companies are taking different approaches to this. Some prefer facial recognition, while others are going the fingerprint route. Others have even tried iris scans.
The use of biometrics in a digital payment is likely going to get a huge boost in 2022. Modern mobile devices, which are the most popular digital payment devices, are already more than capable of handling these tasks.
Summary: Digital Payment Trends
The future of finance and digital payments is digital. While fiat currencies and physical payments are still a massive part of our lives, they are likely to fade away gradually. Some things will, of course, have to be finetuned and optimized as we move along, but we are definitely off to a great start on the journey towards our predominantly digital future.
