This Week in Payments: CEO of Ternio on Blockchain

Gouldman agrees, although he noted that because Ternio is a global FinTech blockchain platform, he filters the news through the vision of cryptocurrency and the fundamental change he sees as ongoing in its use.

“Due to the nature of what we do, we interact and [that] we are interoperable between cryptocurrencies and traditional fiat currencies, from our point of view, it is as if tectonic plates are forming beneath the surface, whatever happens, “Gouldman said.” And they have accelerated and accelerated, and now it is inevitable: there will be only digital money “.

He sees inevitability playing out on titles and segments because Gouldman believes the future of cryptography will not come, it has already begun.

The new mobile consumer

Webster said what this week’s bank earnings indicated is a shift in spending behaviors we’ve been documenting throughout the year. Consumers trade credit for debt, spending less on travel and more on household items, and they buy products online much more often than in-store.

Gouldman added that consumers are simply getting used to digital shopping and digital interactions with money. Mobile experiences are no longer exotic or unusual, they are becoming daily interactions with platforms like Venmo. The acceleration is expected to continue as it has over the past decade, but at a faster pace thanks to COVID-19.

“Consumers are embracing [change] because the experiences are very good, “Gouldman said.” Your merchants are providing a good experience and it’s something consumers feel more comfortable with. So, digitally transactions are something that I think consumers are now considering what they do. “

And he believes it is something they will increasingly be wired to find a better way to do in the future, which should create an acceleration of blockchain technology.

Consider the growing use of gig workers in an on-demand economy. That means paying more employees immediately with a push to the card, but Gouldman said it’s a low-cost but not a free system. Conversely, using a blockchain-based push payment system would create truly free mechanisms to instantly transfer money to gig workers.

“Whether it’s Uber or Lyft or Postmates or anywhere, they’ll have the ability to have a literal peer-to-peer connection between themselves and their contractors without having to pay a bunch of middlemen in between,” Gouldman said.

Creation of new business models

Gouldman said a longstanding mistake people make when it comes to cryptocurrency is trading it for bitcoin.

He said bitcoin is a use case for cryptocurrency, but major players are increasingly embracing the idea that cryptocurrency in general is a new, faster digital railroad. A growing list of great players are starting to realize they need to wrap their arms around this.

For example, JP Morgan Chase has its own proprietary Onyx coin which it is moving to market. Meanwhile, PayPal is moving to make cryptocurrencies spendable, as are Ternio and Visa thanks to their recent accelerated partnership.

Even companies like Wells Fargo and Bank of America, which have historically held out when it comes to embracing crypto, have been pressured to start investigating seriously. Gouldman said it’s because banks are increasingly realizing that cryptocurrency is coming, so it’s a reality they have to adapt to – or risk being disrupted.

“Crypto is happening no matter what, and now companies have to decide to adapt to this new reality that is already happening,” Gouldman said. “The train is on the tracks – it’s gone. So either you’ll be left behind or you’ll find a whole new business model that you didn’t know existed before. “

He said blockchain allows startups that exist on an uneven playing field to compete asymmetrically against the world’s largest financial service providers with solutions that are “better, cheaper, faster” – and now becoming more accessible. that never.

However, Webster noted that no matter how fast or cheap the new binaries are, they are no better if they lack endpoints where consumers can actually spend their crypto funds simply and directly. He added that building an acceptance model and the necessary endpoints are not insignificant challenges. Rails must connect to the accounts and without both sides of the network in place the encryption cannot turn on.

But Gouldman said those connections are already under construction. For example, Ternio’s recent partnership with Visa is building these endpoints, as is PayPal’s recent crypto expansion and the Chinese government’s embrace of cryptocurrency. From where Gouldman is located, it is only a matter of time before we see full adoption.

Gradually, gradually, suddenly

That said, Gouldman can’t say what the exact timing is for what’s to come next. As is often the case when major changes are underway, progress proceeds very slowly before seemingly exploding into a place where everything happens all at once.

However, Gouldman said, when that explosive ignition point arrives no one can guess and there are obstacles to overcome. For example, privacy (or lack thereof) with encryption remains a nagging difficulty, as there is a whole subset of crypto enthusiasts who value digital currency as a mechanism for protecting anonymity.

Gouldman said the problem is that the blockchain’s structure actually allows for unprecedented transparency in such a way that it would be easily possible for the government to track every single purchase a consumer has ever made via cryptocurrency. He said it’s unlikely, but the issue remains a point of tension.

But despite those concerns, Gouldman believes that changes are coming, spurred by consumers with digitized spending habits and institutions looking for a better way to move funds.

“I think we’ll look back on that and in a couple of years – I don’t know how many – tapping into cryptocurrency to move funds will become very normal,” he said.