The PAYTECH Book

How Decentralization Can Create a Customer-Centric Ecosystem

By Michael Boevink

Founder, Boevink Group

Consumers have to pay for the things they buy. This chapter explains changes in consumer behaviour, changes in how we are approaching payments and changes in how payments serve consumers.

Currently we are charged and pay through a centralized structure dominated by large payments companies. In the future, consumers will be charged and pay through a decentralized function using a ledger that gives the trust back to the consumer. A digital transformation to this new future will take time, but one day the consumer will be able to make transactions with digital currencies in a safe, transparent and trustworthy way.

The central question and theme is: “With technology, can we move to a consumer-centric ecosystem?”

Beyond Current Technologies

Mainstream consumers are not using the latest technology of digital currencies, because it does not fulfil their needs. Although technologies built on the Bitcoin network are very promising and soon we will be able to pay for a cup of coffee without even touching a card or payment terminal, we have to realize that this is purely from a technology perspective. Consumer behaviour and trust in the payment world is critical if it is to add value to consumers’ lives.

Banks, open banking and FinTech companies are changing the way we have always done it, creating something new which consumers can embrace in their daily lives. Mass adoption only succeeds ...